University  of  California  •  Berkeley 

In  Memory  of 
HERMAN  D.  NICHOLS 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1867, 

BY  ALBERT  D.  RICHARDSON, 
In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  Southern  District  of  New  York. 


Entered  according  to  A.ct  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1869, 

BY  ALBERT  D.  RICHARDSON, 
In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  Southern  District  of  New  York. 


Printed  by  Wiley,  Waterman  &  Eaton,  Hartford,  Conn. 
Electrotyped  by  R.  H.  Hobbs,  Hartford,  Coun. 


Behind  the  squaw's  light  birch,  canoe, 

The  steamer  rocks  and  raves  ; 
And  city  lots  are  staked  for  sale 

Above  old  Indian  graves. 

I  hear  the  tread  of  pioneers 

Of  nations  yet  to  be — 
The  first  low  -wash  of  -waves  -where  soon 

Shall  roll  a  human  sea. 

The  rudiments  of  Empire  here 

Are  plastic  yet  and  •warm; 
The  chaos  of  a  mighty  -world 

Is  rounding  into  form.  WHITTIER. 

How  canst  thou  -walk  in  these  streets,  -who   hast  trod  the  green  turf  of  the 

prairies  ? 
How  canst  thou  breathe  ID  this  air   who  hast  breathed  the  sweet  air  of  the 

mountains  ?  LONGFELLOW. 


PREFATORY. 


TWENTY  years  ago,  half  our  continent  was  an  unknown  land,  and  the 
Rocky  Mountains  were  our  Pillars  of  Hercules.  Five  years  hence,  the 
Orient  will  be  our  next-door  neighbor.  We  shall  hold  the  world's  granary, 
the  world's  treasury,  the  world's  highway.  But  we  shall  have  no  Far 
West,  no  border,  no  Civilization,  in  line  of  battle,  pressing  back  hostile 
savages,  and  conquering  hostile  Nature. 

I  have  sought  to  picture  a  fleeting  phase  of  our  national  life ;  not 
omitting  its  grotesque,  lawless  features ;  not  concealing  my  admiration  for 
the  adventurous  pioneers  who  have  founded  great  States  from  the  Missis 
sippi  to  the  Pacific,  and  made  a  new  geography  for  the  American  Union. 

It  is  discreditable  to  Americans — peculiarly  so  to  those  with  means  and 
leisure  for  traveling  abroad — that  they  know  little  of  this  geography ; 
little  of  the  greatness,  richness  and  beauty  of  our  national  inheritance. 

In  exhaustlessness  and  variety  of  resources,  no  other  country  on  the 
globe  equals  ours  beyond  the  Mississippi.  In  grand  natural  curiosities 
and  wonders,  all  other  countries  combined  fall  far  below  it. 

Its  mines,  forests  and  prairies  await  the  capitalist.  Its  dusky  races, 
earth-monuments  and  ancient  cities  importune  tne  antiquarian.  Its 
cataracts,  canyons  and  crests  woo  the  painter.  Its  mountains,  minerals 
and  stupendous  vegetable  productions  challenge  the  naturalist.  Its  air 


ii  PREFATORY. 

invites  the  invalid,  healing  the  system  wounded  by  ruder  climates.  Its 
society  welcomes  the  immigrant,  offering  high  interest  upon  his  invest 
ment  of  money,  brains  or  skill ;  and  if  need  be,  generous  obliviousness  of 
errors  past — a  clean  page  to  begin  anew  the  record  of  his  life. 

The  themes  are  fruitful.  The  Pacific  Railroad  hastens  toward  comple 
tion.  We  seem  on  the  threshold  of  a  destiny  higher  and  better  than  any 
nation  has  yet  fulfilled.  And  the  great  West  is  to  rule  us. 

The  field  is  very  large.  In  crossing  it  here  and  there,  I  have  only  lin 
gered  at  some  noteworthy  points.  Future  writers  will  study  and  depict 
it,  State  by  State,  more  minutely  and  more  worthily. 

NEW  YORK,  May,  1867. 


POSTSCRIPT. 

In  view  of  the  unexpectedly  large  and  continuing  demand  for  this  work,  a  re 
vised  edition  is  issued,  with  a  corrected  map,  a  copious  alphabetical  index,  and  fifty 
pages  of  new  reading  matter,  bringing  it  forward  to  the  date  of  the  completion  of  our 
first  railroad  across  the  continent. 

NEW  YORK,  June  1869. 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


ARTISTS'  NAMES  IN  SMALL  CAPITALS;  ENGEAY1ES'  IN  ITALICS. 

PAGE. 

1  MAP  of  the  region  between  the  Mississippi  and  the  Pacific.     (Two  pages.) 

Drawn  on  wood  by  TUDOR  HORTON  ;  engraved  by  Fay  &  Cox 

2  Illuminated  Title  page.    THOMAS  NAST.     J.  P.  Davis  &  Speer. 

3  The  Gray  Goose  Quill.     A.  C.  WARREN.     Fay  &  Cox 17 

4  A  Snagged  Steamer.     A.  R.  WAUD.     Davis  &  Speer. 21 

5  The  Grade  in  Kansas  City.     A.  R.  WAUD.     Davis  &  Speer 26 

6  Lawrence  Kansas,  in  1857.     THOMAS  HOGAN.    Davis  &  Speer. 35 

7  Waukarusa.     GEORGE  G.  WHITE.     Davis  &  Speer. 37 

8  Mud  Fort.    HOGAN.     Davis  &  Speer 38 

9  Capture  of  Colonel  Titus.     WHITE.     N.  Orr  &  Company 40 

10  Portrait  of  James  tf.  Lane.     W.  WAUD.     Davis  &  Speer 45 

11  A  Prohibitory  Law.     WHITE.     Orr 52 

12  City  of  New  Babylon  on  Paper.     WARREN.    Davis  &  Speer 59 

13  City  of  New  Babylon  in  Fact.     WHITE.    Davis  &  Speer 60 

14  Moving  Accident  by  Flood  and  Field.     HOGAN.     Davis  &  Speer 62 

15  'You  can't  hang  me  but  once.'     WHITE.     Orr 69 

16  Law  and  Order  Men.     BENJAMIN  DAY.     Davis  &  Speer 72 

17  Indians  Traveling.     J.  C.  BEARD.     J.  II.  Richardson 74 

18  Family  Encampment.     J.  C.  BEARD.     Orr 78 

19  Governor  Robinson's  Trial  for  Treason.     H.L.STEPHENS.     Richardson 83 

20  A  Fire  in  the  Rear.     STEPHENS.     Davis  &  Speer. 85 

21  A  Comfortable  Slumber.     DAY.     Davis  &  Speer 90 

22  A  Night  in  the    Cabin   of  Four  Miles.     (Full  page.)     NAST.      Davis  & 

Speer.     Face  page • 91 

23  Indian  Mode  of  Burial.     GRANVILLE  PERKINS.     Davis  &  Speer 97 

24  Voting  in  Kickapoo.     FRANK  BEARD.     Davis  &  Speer 101 

25  '  A  Scene  Like  This.'     SOL.  ETYNGE,  JR.     Davis  &  Speer 107 

26  Old  Kaintuck.     STEPHENS.     Davis  &  Speer. 110 

27  '  About  Full  Herel'     F.  BEARD.     Davis  &  Speer 112 

28  Navigation  of  the  Kansas  River.     JOHN  R.  CHAPIN.     Orr 115 

29  The    Marais   des   Cygnes  Massacre.       (Full    page.)     CHAPIN.     Richardson. 

Face  page , 117 

30  The  Executive  Supporting  the  Judiciary.     CHAPIN.     Orr 122 

31  Portrait  of  James  Montgomery.     W.  WAUD.     Davis  &  Speer 125 

32  A  Peace  Convention  at  Fort  Scott,  Kansas.    (Full  page.)   F.  BEARD.    Davis  & 

Speer.     Face  page 128 

33  Returned  Pike's-Peakers.    F.  Beard.     Orr..                                                  .  137 


IV  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PAG* 

34  A  Morning  Caller.    F.  BEARD.    Davis  &  Speer 138 

35  A  Habitable  Dwelling.     Miss  EMMA  DE  RYKE.     Orr 138 

36  A  House  Twelve  by  Fourteen.     Miss  M.  H.  VANDERVEER.    Fay  &  Cox 14.0 

37  A  Bona  tide  Residence.     Miss  LIZZIE  B.  HUMPHREY.     Orr 141 

38  End  of  the  Bogus  Laws.     Miss  M.  JARVIS.     Fay  &  Cox. 149 

39  What's  in  a  name  ?     A.  R.  WAUD.     Davis  &  Speer 150 

40  An  Abolition  Emissary.      (Full  page.)     WILLIAM  J.  HENNESSY.    Davis  & 

Speer.     Face  page 154 

41  The  Dead  Brother.    J.  C.  BEARD.     Davis  &  Speer 158 

42  '  Grocery.'     A.  R.  WAUD.     Davis  &  Speer Ifi2 

43  Horace  Greeley's  Manuscript.     Davis  &  Speer 164 

44  ' Busted,  By  Thunder!'     J.  C.  BEARD.     Orr 166 

45  Narrow  escape  from  the  Buffaloes.     (Full  page.)    J.  C.  BEARD.    Richardson. 

Face  page 168 

46  Portrait  of  Horace  Greeley.     W.  WAUD.     Davis  &  Speer 170 

47  A  Change  of  Base.     WARREN.     Davis  &  Speer 174 

48  Republican  River.     PERKINS.     Davis  &  Speer 176 

49  Climbing  into  the  Mountains.     WHITE.     Orr .  180 

50  Gregory   Gold  Diggings   in   Colorado,    May,    1859.      (Full  page.)      WHITE. 

Orr 181 

61  Misplaced  Confidence.     EDWIN  FORBES.    Davis  &  Speer 184 

62  Seven  Views  in  Denver  Colorado,  1859.    (Full  page.)    WARREN.    Fay  &  Cox. 

Face  page 186 

63  A  Visit  from  Little  Raven.     A.  R.  WAUD.    Davis  &  Speer 191 

54  Burned  to  Death.     H.  FENN.     Davis  &  Speer. 196 

65  Flapjacks.     WARREN.     Fay  &  Cox 200 

66  Going  into  the  Mines.     STEPHENS.    Richardson 202 

67  Coming  Out.     STEPHENS.     Richardson 203 

68  Missouri  Iron  Miners  at  Work.     CHAPIN.     Richardson ....  205 

59  Missouri  Lead  Miners  above  Ground.     THWAITS.    Davis  &  Speer 211 

60  Down  the  Shaft.     F.  A.  CHAPMAN.     Davis  &  Speer 212 

61  Lead  Miners  under  Ground.     CHAPMAN.     James  L.  Langridge 213 

62  The  Church-going  Bell.     STEPHENS.     Richardson 216 

63  Governor  Walker's  Residence,  Indian  Territory.    WILLIAM  WAUD.     Davis  & 

Speer.    Face  page 219 

64  A  Counter-irritant.     W.  FISK.     Fay  &  Cox 220 

65  A  Charmed  Line.    F.  BEARD.     Davis  &  Speer 223 

66  A  Mexican  Cart.     Miss  HUMPHREY.    Davis  &  Speer 227 

67  Comanche  Greeting.    F.  E.  MULLEN.     Davis  &  Speer 229 

68  A  Morning  Amusement.    FORBES.     Fay  &  Cox 231 

69  The  Mirage.     FENN.    Davis  &  Speer 233 

70  Indians  Surprised  and  Defeated  in  Lirnpia  Canyon.      (Full  page.)      WARREN. 

Langridge 234 

71  The  Spanish  Bayonet.     A.  R.  WAUD.     Davis  &  Speer .  236 

72  Street  Scenes  in  El  Paso,  old  Mexico.     W.  WAUD.     Davis  &  Speer 240 

73  A  Mexican  Fandango.    HOGAN.    Davis  &  Speer 242 


ILLUSTRATIONS.  V 

PAGE. 

74  '  Journey  of  the  Dead  Man.'    THWAITS.     Davis  &  Speer 24G 

75  A  Mexican  Grist-Mill.     Miss  JARVIS.     Davis  &  Speer !  247 

76  A  Mexican  Farm-House.     Miss  DE  RYKE.     Fay  &  Cox. 250 

77  Gambling  in  Santa  Fe.     F.  BEARD.     Davis  &  Speer 252 

78  Portrait  of  Kit  Carson.     W.  WAUD.     Davis  &  Speer .". 257 

79  Mexican  Carriages.     CHAPIN.     Richardson 260 

80  Hitching  a  Donkey.     WHITE.     Orr 261 

81  Penitentes  lashing  themselves.     MULLEN.     Davis  &  Speer 264 

82  The  Taos  Pueblo.     FENN.    Davis  &  Speer 266 

83  My  Rueful  Mexican  Host.     WHITE.     Orr. 273 

84  First  view  of  Colorado  City.     WHITE.     Orr. 276 

85  The  Fontaine  Qui  Bouille.     G.  W.  CRANE.     Orr 277 

8G  The  Author  arrives  in  Denver.     A.  R.  WAUD.     Davis  &  Speer 279 

87  John  Brown.     (Brady,  Photographer.)     A.  R.  WAUD.     Davis  &  Speer 283 

88  A  letter  from  John  Brown.     Davis  &  Speer 285 

89  '  Do  they  Miss  Me  at  Home  ?'     J.  C.  BEARD.     Richardson 288 

90  An  Armed  Neutrality.     A.  R.  WAUD.     G.  H.  Hayes 291 

91  '  Our  House '  in  Denver.     A.  R.  WAUD.     Davis  &  Speer 295 

92  Waiting  for  Letters.     F.  BEARD.     Davis  &  Speer 298 

93  Indian  Village  in  Denver,  in  1860.     WHITE.     Orr •. .  . .  300 

94  A  Rocky  Mountain  Scene.    From  a  Painting  by  Albert  Bierstadt.    (Full  page.) 

Dixox.     John  Karst.     Face  page 302 

95  A  Voluntary  Retraction.     A.  R.  WAUD.     Davis  &  Speer 306 

96  The  Arastra,     J.  C.  BEARD.     Richardson 307 

97  Pike's  Peak,  from  Forty  Miles  Northeast.     PERKINS.     Davis  &  Speer 310 

98  Scene  in  the  Monument  Region.     WHITE.     Orr. 311 

99  Gateway  to  Garden  of  the  Gods.     Miss  HUMPHREY.     Davis  &  Speer. 312 

100  Climbing  Pike's  Peak.     R.  M.  Shurtleff.     Davis  &  Speer 314 

101  Under  the  Shelving  Rock.     WHITE.      Orr 317 

102  On  the  Summit.     WHITE.     Orr 321 

103  '  Lincoln  is  Elected  !'     J.  C.  BEARD.     Richardson 325 

104  Light  Artillery.     HOGAN.     Davis  &  Speer 328 

105  A  Picture  of  Whoa!     FORBES.     Davis  &  Speer 329 

106  Denver  Architecture  in  1867.     W.  WAUD.     Fay  &  Cox 334 

107  An  Honest  Miner.     HOGAN.     Davis  &  Speer 336 

108  Indian  Attack  at  North  Platte  Crossing.     WHITE.     Orr 339 

109  An  Outside  Passenger.     F.  H.  SCHELL.     Fay  &  Cox 341 

110  Snow-balling  in  June.     J.  BECKER.     Fay  &  Cox 344 

111  Emigration  Canyon.  (S.  W.  Y.  Schimonsky,  U.  P.R.R.)  HOGAN.  Davis  &  Speer.  345 

112  Great  Salt  Lake  City,   Utah,    1867.     (Full  page.)     (Schimonsky.)     CHAPIN. 

Richardson 347 

113  Brigliara  Preaching  to  his  Congregation.      WHITE.     Orr 348 

114  Portrait  of  Brigham  Young.     W.  WAUD.     Davis  &  Speer 352 

1 15  Lion  House  and  Bee-Hive  House.     E.  BONWELL.'    Davis  &  Speer 354 

1 1 6  '  Why,  I  am  your  Wife ! '     Miss  MARY  A.  HALLOCK.     Davis  &  Speer. 357 

117  The  Great  Salt  Lake.     (Schimonsky.)  •  SCHELL.     Davis  &  Speer 360 


VI  ILLUSTKATIONS. 

PAGE. 

118  An  Early  Mormon  Coin.     Davis  &  Speer c  0 364 

119  'Egan  Canyon  and  first  Quartz  Mill.     (Scliimonsky)     WHITE.      Orr 368 

120  Virginia  Nevada,  and  Mount  Davidson.     BONWELL.     Davis  &  Speer .......   372 

12 1  The  Crushed  Timbers.     DAY.     Davis  &  Speer 375 

122  On  the  Lacfder.     A.  R.  WAUD.     Davis  &  Speer „ .  „ . 377 

123  Portrait  of  Louis  McLane.     A.  R.  WAUD.     Davis  &  Speer 381 

124  Montgomery  Street,  San  Francisco,  July  4,  1865.     SCHELL.     Davis  &  Spear.  383 

125  Down  the  Sierra  Nevadas  by  Stage-coach,  in  1865.     (Full  page.)     WARREN. 

Langridge 384 

126  A  Group  of  Celestials.     W.  WAUD.     Davis  &  Speer 388 

127  Hydraulic  Mining.     SCHELL.     Davis  &  Speer ,...,' 391 

1^8  Mount  Shasta.     (Painted'by  F.  A.  Butman.)        FENN.     Davis  &  Speer 395 

129  Portland,  Oregon,  July  4,  1865.    BONWELL.     Davis  &  Speer 400 

130  Sheridan's  first  Battle  Ground,  Columbia  River.     PERKINS.     Langridge 402 

131  A  Midnight  Reception  to  Speaker  Colfax.     A.  R.  WAUD.     Davis  &  Speer. ..   404 

132  Portrait  of  Albert  Bierstadt.     A.  R.  WAUD.     Davis  &  Speer 410 

133  Mount  Rainier  from  Puget  Sound.     (Butman.)     WARREN.     Orr 413 

134  '  Lightning,'  an  Indiai.  Belle.     A.  R.  WAUD.     Langridge 417 

135  Government  Street,  Victoria  Vancouver  Island.    W.  WAUD.     Davis  &  Speer.  419 

136  Going  into  Yosemite  Valley.     A.  R.  WAUD.     Davis  &  Speer 421 

137  Diagram  of  Yosemite  Valley.     HUSSEY.     Davis  &  Speer i 423 

138  El  Capitan.    (Watkins,  Photographer,  San  Francisco.)    PERKINS.     Langridge.  424 

139  Yosemite  Fall— highest  in  the  World.     (Watkins.)  .WARREN.     Orr 425 

140  Vernal  Fall  and  Round  Rainbow.     (Watkins.)     FENN.     Langridge 428 

141  Bed  and  Board.     DAY.     Davis  &  Speer , . .  430 

142  Riding  through  a  Tree-Trunk.     HOGAN.     Fay  &  Cox 432 

143  The  Grizzly  Giant — 34  feet  in  diameter.     FENN.     Davis  &  Speer 434 

144  Invitation  to  Chinese  Dinner.     Davis  &  Speer 436 

145  Chinese  Dinner  in  San  Francisco.     A.  R.  WAUD.     Fay  &  Cox 438 

146  Schuyler  Colfax.     (Full  page  on  steel.)     A.  II.  RITCHIE Frontispiece. 

147  Portrait  of  Governor  Bross.     W.  WAUD.     Davis  $•  Speer 443 

148  Aboriginal  Californians.  Fay  $•  Cox 444 

149  'You  Get!'     A.  R.  WAUD.     Davis  &  Speer... '. 445 

150  '  You  Bet !'     A.  R.  WAUD.     Davis  &  Speer 446 

151  San  Francisco  from  the  Bay  in  1847.     '  Annals  of  San  Francisco.' 448 

152  San  Francisco  in  1849.     '  Annals  of  San  Francisco.' 450 

153  Interior  of  Mission  Church.     ;  Annals  of  San  Francisco.' 452 

154  California  Fruits  and  Vegetables.     (Full  page.)     (Photographed  by  Bradley 

&  Rulofson,  San  Francisco.)     HOGAN.     Davis  &  Speer.     Face  page 453 

155  California  Cactus.     Miss  DE  RYKE.     Fay  &  Cox 456 

156  An  Early  California  Coin.     HORTON.     Fay  &  Cox 458 

157  Portrait  of  Leland  Stanford.     A.  R.  WAUD.     Davis  &  Speer 462 

158  Chinamen  building  Pacific  Railroad,  Sierras.     A.   R.  WAUD.     G.  If.  Hayes..  464 

159  Summit  Crossing  of  Sierra  Nevadas.     A.  R.  WAUD.     Orr 465 

160  Reflection  in  Donner  Lake.     HOGAN.     Davis  &  Speer 467 

1 61  The  Donner  Party  in  1846.     DAY.     Davis  &  Speer , 469 


ILLUSTRATIONS.  Vli 

PACK; 

162  Portrait  of  '  the  Salt  Lake  Poetess.'    W.  WAUD.    Davis  &  Speer 470 

163  A  Section  of  Big  Canyon,  Colorado  River.    A.  C.  WARREN.    Fay  &  Cox 472 

164  A  View  in  Big  Canyon  of  Colorado.     WARREN.     Orr 473 

165  Six  Wives.     Miss  HUMPHREY.     Davis  &  Speer 476 

166  A  Prolific  Country.     Miss  JARVIS.     Fay  &  Cox. 478 

167  The  Hurdy-Gurdy  House,  Virginia  Montana.    (Full  page.)    H.  W.  HERRICK. 

Davis  &  Speer    Face  page 480 

168  Virginia  City  Montana.     W.  WAUD.     Davis  &  Speer 481 

169  Two-thousand-dollar  Nugget.     Miss  HALLOCK.    Davis  &  Speer. 483 

170  A  Man  of  Nerve.    A.  R.  WAUD.     Orr 485 

171  A  State  of  Suspense.     A.  R.  WAUD.     Davis  &  Speer 487 

172  '  Speciments,  Mass'r !'     Miss  HALLOCK.     Fay  &  Cox 488 

173  Great  Falls  of  Missouri  River.     SCHELL.    Davis  &  Speer 491 

174  Robbery  of  the  Montana  Coach.     A.  R.  WAUD.     Karst 493 

175  Utah  Indian  Prisoners.     J.  C.  BEARD.     Langridge 495 

176  Shoshonee,  or  Snake  River,  Cataract,  Idaho.     WARREN.     Orr 498 

177  Evidences  of  Civilization.     WARREN.     Fay  &  Cox 501 

178  Interior  of  a  Quartz  Mill.     WARREN.     Fay  &  Cox 502 

179  Ruby  City,  Owyhee,  Idaho.     A.  R.  WAUD.     Fay  fa  Cox 505 

180  Examining  the  Ledges,  War  Eagle  Mountain.     WARREN.     Davis  &  Speer. .  508 

181  Fort  Baker  and  Poorman  Mine.     WARREN.     Fay  &  Cox 509 

182  Surveying  in  Humboldt  Pass.     (Schimonsky.)     BECKER.    Fay  &  Cox 511 

183  The  Noble  Red  Man.    A.  R.  WAUD.     Davis  &  Speer 51. 

184  '  Heavy  on  One  Wheel.'    A.  R.  WAUD.     Davis  &  Speer 514 

185  Mount  Hood,  Oregon.     (Butraan.)     WHITE.      Orr 515 

186  Flathead  Indians.     Miss  HALLOCK.    Fay  &  Cox 516 

187  Madrona  Tree,  Healdsburg  California.     HOGAN.     Davis  &  Speer. 519 

188  Along  the  Hog-back.     WARREN.      Orr , . .  522 

189  Diagram  of  Devil's  Canyon.     WARREN.     Fay  &  Cox 524 

190  Witches'  Caldron,  California  Geysers.     WARREN.     Fay  &  Cox 525 

191  Sea-Lions,  San  Francisco  Harbor.     WARREN.     Fay  &  Cox 529 

192  The  Golden  Gate.    Outlet  of  San  Francisco  Bay.    (Watkins)    WARREN.     Orr.  531 

193  A  School  of  Porpoises.     SCHELL.    Davis  &  Speer 534 

194  On  the  Isthmus,  between  Panama  and  AspinwalL     WHITE.     Fay  &  Cox 540 

195  Transferring  the  Specie  at  AspinwalL     E.  JUMP.     Fay  &  Cox 543 

196  '  Only  a  Headache.'     A.  R.  WAUD.     Davis  &  Speer 545 

197  Delaware  Street,  Leavenworth,  1867.     BONWELL.     Fay  &  Cox 550 

198  Among  the  Grasshoppers.     WARREN.     Fay  &  Cox 553 

199  Lawrence  Kansas,  after  the  Quantrell  Raid.     A.  R.  WAUD.     Orr 557 

200  A  Painted  Darkey.     WARREN.     Fay  &  Cox 559 

201  A  Part  of  Omaha  in  1867.     SHURTLEFF.     Fay  &  Cox 563 

202  Portrait  of  George  Francis  Train.     W.  WAUD.      Davis  &  Speer 566 

203  Building  the  Pacific  Railroad  in  Nebraska,     (Full  Page.)    A.  R.  WAUD. 

Langridge.     Face  page 567 

204  Portrait  of  Thomas  C.  Durant.     A.  R.  WAUD.     Davis  &  Speer 568 

205  Bear  Hunting  Sixty  years  ago.     WARREN.    Fay  &  Cox 570 


Vlll  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PAGE 

206  Hanging  Book,  Union  Pacific  Railroad.     T.  WILLIAMS.     Fay  &  Cox 574 

207  A  most  Wonderful  Voyage.     A.  R.  WAUD.    J.  T.  Speer 576 

208  Smith's  Choice.     A.  R.  WAUD.     J.  T.  Speer 580 

209  A  Group  of  Zuni  Indians.     T.  WILLIAMS.     Fay  &  Cox 586 

210  Sequoyah  (George  Guest).    FAY  &  Cox.     Fay  &  Cox 590 

211  First-Class  Hotel  on  the  Plains  in  1867.     A.  R.  WAUD.     J.  T.  Speer 593 

212  First-Class  Hotel  on  the  Plains  in  1869.     A.  R.  WAUD.     Langridye 595 

213  A  Young  Sucker.     A.  R.  WAUD.     J.  T.  Speer 598 

214  Going  to  California  in  1867.     A.  R.  WAUD.      Langridge 603 

215  Going  to  California  in  1869.     A.  R.  WAUD.     Wm.  Warzbach 607 

216  Tail-Piece.    A.  R.  WAUD.     Orr. .  611 


CONTENTS, 


CHAPTER    I. 

PAGB. 

Westward  and  Westward.  American  Wines  of  the  West.  The  Great  Muddy 
.River.  Scenes  along  the  Missouri.  Terrors  of  Missouri  Navigation.  A  Story 
of  Steamboat  Racing.  Stopping  to  'Wood  Up.'  Oration  by  a  Steamboat 
Gambler.  All  Varieties  of  Passengers.  Arrival  in  Kansas  City.  Encounter 
ing  an  Old  Acquaintance.  Border  Ruffians  in  Kansas, 17 

CHAPTER    II. 

A  Glance  at  Wyandotte,  Kansas.  How  Frontier  Cities  are  Begun.  A  Romantic 
Indian  Legend.  A  City  among  the  Rocks.  On  the  Rolling  Prairies.  Travel 
ers  along  the  Road.  A  Bit  of  Yankee  Ingenuity.  How  Lawrence  was  Founded. 
And  how  it  was  Named.  A  Scene  of  Surpassing  Beauty, 29 

CHAPTER    III. 

A  War  Reminiscence.  Juries  and  Councils  of  War.  Origin  of  the  Kansas 
Troubles.  Resistance  to  the  Bogus  Laws.  Two  Characteristics  of  the  Struggle. 
Free  State  Convention  at  Topeka.  Lane's  Power  as  an  Orator.  His  Physical 
Endurance.  His  Speech  in  the  Convention.  Other  Prominent  Speakers. 
Reception  of  a  Bogus  Assessor.  A  Collection  on  First  Principles.  History 
repeating  itself.  '  Casting  out  the  Vile  Demon,' *. , . .  39 

CHAPTER    IV. 

First  Visit  to  Leavenworth.  A  Journey  on  Foot.  A  Night  with  a  Kentucky 
Squatter.  The  First  Landing  at  Sumner.  Atchison,  Doniphan  and  Geary 
City.  A  Mania  for  Speculation.  Difference  between  Fact  and  Fancy.  A  Real 
Estate  Reaction.  Rivalry  of  American  Cities.  An  Encroaching  Element. 
Vagaries  of  the  Missouri, 53 

CHAPTER    V. 

Deadly  Affray  at  the  Polls.  A  Kansas  Temple  of  Justice.  A  Murder  for  Money. 
A  Mob  Administering  Justice.  '  The  Man  with  the  Rope.'  An  Exciting  Night 
Scene.  Mormons  Escaping  to  Kansas.  The  Land  Sale  at  Osawkee.  Border 
Ruffian  Courts  of  Justice.  A  Quasi  Declaration  of  War.  Treason  to  be  Put 
Down.  Fallacy  of  Human  Testimony.  Governor  Extinguished  by  Ridicule, .  64 

CHAPTER    VI. 

Wild  Fruits  of  the  Prairies.  An  Emigrant  Family  in  Camp.  Rain  Increasing 
with  Civilization.  A  Shrewd  Speculator  in  Lumber.  Within  Prison  Walls. 


X  CONTENTS. 

PAOB, 

Last  Treason  Trial  in  Kansas.  Traveling  to  a  Convention.  Siege  of  Hickory 
Point.  A  Declaration  by  Buchanan.  The  Ballot  or  the  Rifle.  Rupture  in  the 
Democratic  Party.  Fifteen  Whisky  Punches, 77 

CHAPTER    VII. 

Night  Rides  on  the  Prairies.  Seeking  Shelter  among  the  Indians.  A  Night 
with  a  Delaware  Family.  Origin  of  Indian  Appellations.  The  Delaware 
Baptist  Mission.  Another  Night's  Lodging.  Something  about  the  Shawnees. 
Pottawatomie  Funeral  Rites.  Origin  of  some  Kansas  Names.  A  Little  Le 
gendary  Lore, 89 

CHAPTER    VIII. 

Governor  Denver  makes  his  Debut.  And  has  a  Spirited  Reception.  Wonderful 
Election  Returns.  To  Yote  or  not  to  Vote.  A  Kansas  Search-warrant.  His 
tory  of  the  Minneola  Scheme.  '  Mightier  than  the  Sword.'  General  Lane  re 
ceives  his  Friends.  A  Speech  Nipped  in  the  Bud.  Governors  plenty  as  Black 
berries,  95 

CHAPTER    IX. 

An  Imaginary  City.  '  What  are  your  Politics  ?'  Freaks  of  Political  Highway 
men.  Not  much  Room  left.  An  Excitement  at  Lawrence.  Jenkins  killed  by 
General  Lane.  An  Adventurous  Cat-fish.  The  Result  of  a  Mis-step.  Brave 
Father  and  Brave  Son.  A  Most  Inhuman  Massacre.  Le  Marais  du  Cygne, ...  109 

CHAPTER    X. 

A  Party  of  Peace-makers.  Before  a  Comfortable  Fire.  A  Night  at  Osawattomie. 
Both  Sides  of  the  Question.  A  Simple,  Touching  Story.  The  Great  Guerrilla 
Chieftain.  One  of  his  Devoted  Adherents.  '  Catching  a  Tartar '  Illustrated. 
A  Moment  of  Excitement.  Uniting  to  Keep  the  Peace.  An  Address  by 
Montgomery, 120 

CHAPTER    XI. 

Feminine  Smokers  of  Tobacco.  Fever  and  Ague  Experiences.  Perplexing 
Usages  of  Words.  Mysterious  Slang  Phrases  Interpreted.  Pearls  and  Return 
ing  Gold  Seekers.  Colonel  Gilpin's  Early  Predictions.  Rattlesnakes  as  Bed 
fellows.  Mysteries  of  Pre-empting  Lands.  Forms  of  '  Duplicates '  and  Patents. 
'  Oaths  are  Words.'  Borrowing  a  Child.  An  Ingenious  Runaway  Husband. 
A  Clever  Stratagem  Spoiled.  Fertility  of  the  Hemp  Region.  Republican  ver 
sus  Black  Republican, 131 

CHAPTER    XII. 

A  Bit  of  Legislative  Fun.  Cost  of  Kissing  a  Chamber-maid.  Easy  Divorce  in 
New  States.  Prisoners  brought  to  Lawrence.  An  Unfortunate  Hamilton.  A 
Hard  Country  for  Governors.  Kidnapping  of  John  Doy.  His  Rescue  by  John 


CONTENTS.  xi 

FACE. 

Brown.     Kansas  Tapped  by  the  Railway.     The  Luxuries  of  Modern  Travel 

A  Little  Trip  to  Kansas, 14f 

CHAPTER    XIII. 

Great  Stampede  for  the  Mines.  The  Sufferings  along  the  Route.  'Concord 
Wagon '  or  Stage  Coach.  St.  Mary's  Catholic  Mission.  Horace  Greeley  Taking 
a  Tour.  A  Limited  Stock  of  Groceries.  A  Model  Letter  of  Introduction.  A 
Specimen^of  Editorial  Penmanship.  Among  the  Antelopes  and  Buffaloes.  A 
Jovial  Prairie  Micawber.  Facts  about  the  Buffalo.  A  Narrow  Escape  from 
Death, 157 

CHAPTER    XIV. 

Horace  Greeley's  Wide-spread  Fame.  Half  a  Million  of  Buffaloes.  The  Curious 
Little  Prairie-dog.  Health  and  Strength  of  the  Savage.  Overturn  of  the  Coach. 
A  Night  in  a  Cheyenne  Village.  Republican  River  under  Ground.  First  View 
of  Pike's  Peak.  Inspiring  Presence  of  the  Mountains.  Denver  City  in  its 
Infancy, !69 

CHAPTER    XV. 

Starting  for  the  Gregory  Diggings.  Our  Weary  and  Winding  Way.  In  the  Heart 
of  the  Mouptains.  First  Reliable  Report  of  the  Mines.  First  Mass  Meeting  at 
Pike's  Peak.  Freaks  of  our  Eccentric  Mules.  Our  Most  Extraordinary  Land 
lord.  '  Our  Best  Society '  in  Denver.  A  Finished  Specimen  of  a  Gambler.  An 
Unfailing  Supply  of  Victims.  The  Turns,  of  Fortune's  Wheel.  Almost  one  of 
Cooper's  Heroes.  A  Visit  from  the  Arapahoe  Chief.  A  Conversation  with  Lit 
tle  Raven, ,  179 

CHAPTER    XVI. 

Little  Raven  as  a  Devotee.  Indian  Signals — Peace  or  Hostility.  Expressive 
Features  and  Gestures.  Ho,  for  the  Mountains  again!  Death  from  the  Moun 
tain  Fires.  Evening  Scenes  among  the  Miners.  The  Gregory  Diggings  on 
Sunday.  Intellectual,  Argumentative  Miners.  Predictions  of  Gold  and  Agri 
culture.  A  Shrewd  California  Emigrant.  Beauty  of  our  Indian  Corn, 193 

CHAPTER    XVII. 

The  Great  Missouri  Iron  Mountains.  Quarrying  out  the  Iron  Ore.  Twenty-seven 
Hundred,  Fahrenheit.  Warsaw's  Last  Champions — and  Soap.  Lynching  in 
Springfield  Missouri.  Effect  of  the  War  upon  Missouri.  Conversations  with 
the  Settlers.  The  Great  Neosho  Lead  Region.  Subterranean  Mining  Scenes. 
Mode  of  Reducing  Lead  Ore.  Villages  in  Southwestern  Missouri, 204 

CHAPTER    XVIII. 

Life  at  Fort  Smith  Arkansas.  Cotton  Picking  in  Louisiana.  The  Tale  of  an  Ink 
stand.  Experiences  in  a  Sick  Chamber.  Entering  the  Indian  Territory. 
Among  the  Cherokees  and  Choctaws.  Curious  Hereditary  Complexions. 


Xll  CONTENTS. 

PACK. 

Novel  Boarding  School  Freaks.     Crinoline  among  Indian  "Women.     The  Chicka- 
saws  lose  their  laws, , 215 

CHAPTER    XIX. 

News  of  Broderick's  Death.  Frequency  of  Homicides  in  Texas.  The  Quaint 
Mexican  Cart.  Stopped  by  the  Colorado  River.  The  Fierce,  Untamed  Co- 
manches.  Signal  Code  among  the  Savages.  A  Plucky  Little  Texan  "Woman. 
On  the  Great  Staked  Plain.  A  Girl  Stolen  by  Comanches.  A  Fatal  Fondness 
for  Pictures, 225 

CHAPTER    XX.. 

Preaching  Easier  than  Practice.  The  Colonel  retires  Disabled.  First  Line  across 
the  Continent.  '  Out  "West '  on  its  Travels.  Peon  Labor  in  New  Mexico.  A 
Kentuckian  in  Court.  Street  Pictures  in  Mexican  Towns.  A  Native  Meg 
Merrilies.  An  Aristocratic  Castilian  Gathering.  Sunday  Worship  in  the  Ca 
thedral,  235 

CHAPTER    XXI. 

From  El  Paso  to  Santa  Fe.  Adventures  with  the  Apaches.  Consumption  of  Red 
Peppers.  Passing  through  Albuquerque.  Arrival  in  Santa  Fe.  Highest  Town 
in  the  Union.  An  Experience  at  Gambling.  Curiosities  and  Horrid  Trophies. 
Families  of  White  Indians.  Fascination  of  Border  Life, 245 

CHAPTER    XXII. 

A  Stray  Printer  and  Journalist.  A  Ride  with  Kit  Carson.  His  Hair-breadth 
'Scapes.  Hospitality  of  the  Mexican.  The  Victim  of  a  Biographer.  All  about 
Mexican  Donkeys.  The  Rebellion  of  1847.  Curious  Religious  Customs  of  Na 
tives.  Mexican  Peonage  versus  Slavery.  Among  the  Pueblo  Indians.  Their 
Superstitions  and  Traditions.  Strange  Old  Aztec  Ruins.  Geological  Changes 
in  the  Country, 256 

CHAPTER    XXIII. 

From  Taos  to  Denver,  Colorado.  A  Polyglot  Landlord.  Before  the  Sutler's  Fire. 
Out-door  Mountain  Lodgings.  Meeting  a  Plucky  Pedestrian.  An  Unpleasant 
Sleeping  Companion.  A  Herd  of  Spotted  Antelopes.  Offerings  to  an  Invisible 
Deity.  Another  Old  Friend.  Climate  and  Pulmonary  Complaints.  A  Report 
of  John  Brown.  End  of  Summer  Journeyings, ,  269 

CHAPTER    XXIV. 

"A  Night  with  a  Squatter.  Killed  in  the  Darkness.  Reminiscences  of  Old  John 
Brown.  Yankees,  Missourians  and  'Cricks.'  A  Letter  from  John  Brown. 
One  of  John  Brown's  Followers.  An  Extinguishing  Retort.  Along  the  Emi 
grant  Road.  Humors  of  Plains  Travel.  Our  Pioneers  and  Self-government. 
An  Illustration  of  Lynch  Law.  Gordon's  Capture,  Trial  and  Death.  Wonder 
ful  Tenacity  of  Life, .281 


CONTENTS.  Xlll 


CHAPTER    XXV. 

PACW. 

A  Summer  Day  in  Denver.  Best  House  in  the  Neighborhood.  A  Breakfast 
Party  of  Rovers.  Newspapers,  Churches,  Hotels,  Stores.  Mint,  Express-office 
and  Coach.  Curious  Characters  from  Everywhere.  A  Stroll  down  Blake 
Street  An  Editor  and  a  Count.  A  Grand  Mountain  Panorama, 294 

CHAPTER    XXVI. 

Little  Raven  Loses  a  Treasure.  A  Dentist  Practices  Strategy.  A  Hard  Country 
for  Editors.  A  Night  at  Apollo  Theater.  Visit  to  Gregory  Diggings.  Pun 
ishing  a  Precocious  Youth.  In  the  Great  South  Park.  A  Memorable  Summer 
Excursion.  The  Interesting  Monument  Region.  Music  in  Underground 
Chambers, 303 

CHAPTER    XXVII. 

Starting  up  the  Mountains.  Scenes  of  Picturesque  Beauty.  Nature's  Terrible 
Convulsions.  Dismal  and  Dreary  Situation.  Clouds  Breaking  once  more. 
Fears  of  Fever  and  Delirium.  All  Vegetation  left  behind.  On  the  Crest  at 
last.  An  Indescribably  Grand  View.  Four  Territories — Four  Great  Rivers. 
Provisions  Alarmingly  Scarce.  Effects  of  the  Five-days'  Trip.  Good  Treat 
ment  for  Invalids.  The  Trans-continental  Pony  Express, 313 

CHAPTER    XXVIII. 

Starting  "Westward  again.  Indian  Murders  and  Depredations.  Tornado  near 
Fort  Kearney.  Press  Dispatches  on  the  Wing.  One  Dollar  for  a  Newspaper. 
Grasshoppers  Miraculously  Destroyed. '  Ranch  Eggs  versus  States  Eggs.  Les 
son  of  Mountain  Scenery.  Gregory  Diggings  at  Six  Years  Old.  A  Curious 
Claim  Controversy.  Growth  and  Resources  of  Colorado, 327 

CHAPTER    XXIX. 

Virginia  Dale — Lover's  Leap.  Smelling  the  Battle  afar  off.  Indians  a  Little  too 
Near.  Wagon  Three  Inches  too  Wide.  Chruch  Butte  and  Fort  Bridger.  An 
Old  Trapper's  Story.  Three  Mormon  Wives — all  Sisters.  First  View  of  Salt 
Lake  Valley.  Speeches  and  Responses — Hot  Springs.  Scenery  of  Wonderful 
Beauty.  Eight  Days  among  the  Mormons.  Miracles  of  the  Telegraph.  Frank 
Discussion  with  Brigham  Young, 338 

CHAPTER    XXX. 

The  City  of  the  Future.  All  the  Jews  are  Gentiles.  Personal  Description  of 
Brigham.  An  Hour  in  Brigham's  School.  Thirty  Wives  and  Sixty  Children. 
Great  Salt  Lake  and  the  Dead  Sea.  Sunday  Service  of  the  Mormons.  Brig- 
Lam's  Great  Theater.  Dwellers  among  the  Mountain-tops.  Sagacity  of  the 
Mormon  Leaders.  Practical  Workings  of  Polygamy.  One  Wife  too  many. 
Assassinations  in  Salt  Lake  City.  Early  Trials  of  the  Pioneers.  How  the 

Problem  will  be  Solved, 35.1 

2 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER    XXXI. 

FAO* 

From  Salt  Lake  City  Westward.  Eight  Miles  in  Thirty  Minutes.  Irrigating  the 
Sandy  Deserts.  Hardships  and  Perils  of  Explorers.  Features  of  Austin  Ne 
vada.  First  View  of  Sierra  Nevadas.  A  City  set  upon  a  Hill.  Excitements 
in  Mining  Stocks.  Richest  Silver  Mine  ever  Found.  Curious  Inventions  of  Mi 
ners.  Four  Hundred  Feet  under  Ground.  Ores  Sent  Abroad  for  Reduction. 
Five  Hundred  Millions  per  Annum, 366 

CHAPTER     XXXTI. 

Carson  City  and  Carson  Valley.  Earliest  Officers  of  Nevada.  Lake  Tahoe,  on 
Sierra  Nevadas.  Seven  Thousand  Feet  above  Sea-level.  A  Legend  of  Stage 
Driving.  Thrilling  Ride  down  the  Sierras.  Reaching  the  Locomotive  again. 
Sacramento — Arrival  in  San  Francisco.  A  Startling  Catalogue  of  Events. 
Delightful  Days  in  Placerville.  The  Rare  Charm  of  California.  Chinamen  on 
the  Pacific  Coast.  Among  the  Hydraulic  Miners.  The  Wonderful  Power  of 
Water, 379 

CHAPTER     XXXIII. 

Warm  Climate  of  Pacific  Coast.  Scene  of  a  California  Story.  The  Widow  of  John 
Brown.  Spelling  '  Yreka  Bakery '  Backward.  Reminiscences  of  General  Grant. 
Noteworthy  Points  on  the  Road.  Plentifulness  of  Babies.  Portland  Street  and 
River  Scenes.  Excursion  up  the  Columbia.  Lincoln  Grant  and  Sheridan. 
Curious  Dalles  of  the  Columbia.  A  Bit  of  Oratorical  Fun.  Northern  Pacific 
Railroad  wanted,  A  Couple  of '  Little  Stories,' 393 

CHAPTER    XXXIV. 

A  Frontier  Supreme  Court.  Oregon  Pioneers  Govern  Themselves.  Terrible  Re 
venge  on  the  Savages.  The  Rich  Resources  of  Oregon.  A  Little  more  Oregon 
Cider.  Forests  of  Washington  Territory.  A  Strange  Forest  Village.  The 
America  of  the  Future,  Beautiful  Scenery  of  Puget  Sound.  Under  the  British 
Flag.  Features  of  Vancouver  Island.  American  Rhetoric  among  the  Britons. 
Fate  of  the  Brother  Jonathan, 40t 

CHAPTER    XXXV. 

Discovery  of  Yosemite  Valley.  View  from  Inspiration  Point.  Riding  down  the 
Zigzags.  Hutchings  and  his  Household.  Trees  and  Walls  of  the  Valley. 
Yosemite  Fall— Highest  in  the  World.  El  Capitan;  Mount  King;  Mount  Col- 
fax.  Bridal  Vail;  Vernal;  Mirror  Lake.  The  Wonderful  Round  Rainbow. 
Grandest  Scenery  on  the  Globe.  Eight  Thousand  Feet  above  Sea-level.  Visit 
ing  the  Mariposa  Big  Trees.  Forty  Feet  in  Diameter.  A  Forest  Ingomar  and 
Parthenia.  Grizzly  Giant — Thirty-four  Feet  in  Diameter.  A  Grand  National 
Summer  Resort, 420 


CONTENTS.  XV 


CHAPTER    XXXVI. 

PAG*. 

Invited  to  Celestial  Hospitalities.  Sitting  down  to  the  Banquet.  More  than 
Three  Hundred  Dishes.  Extracts  from  the  Bill-of-fare.  '  Wives  won't  Come.' 
Mr.  Colfax  and  his  Journey.  My  Friends  Homeward  Bound.  California  Poli 
tics  as  a  Study.  Features  of  California  Society.  American  Wit  and  Humor. 
A  String  of  California  Stories, .„,. -436 

CHAPTER    XXXVII. 

The  "Raw  Winds  of  San  Francisco.  A  Climate  Stimulating  like  Wine.  Fires  and 
Earthquakes  Unavailing.  Prejudice  against  the  Chinese.  Mission  Mills; 
Church;  Yosemite  Views.  California  Quartz-mining  and  Farming..  Grain, 
Vegetables  and  Fruit  Trees.  Mammoth  Productions  of  California.  Oranges, 
Vineyards  and  Wines.  An  Immense  Private  Enterprise.  The  San  Francisco 
Newspapers.  A  Bit  of  Historical  Record.  Half  an  Hour  in  the  Mint.  The 
Great  Pacific  Railway, .^. . .  447 

CHAPTER    XXXVIII. 

Excursion  on  the  Pacific  Railroad.  Twelve  Thousand  Chinese  Laborers.  Horri 
ble  Fate  of  the  Donner  Party.  Engulfed  by  a  Snow-slide.  Establishing  the 
Railway  Route.  Empty  Travelers  Fearless  of  Robbers.  Fellow  Passengers  on 
the  Desert.  Once  more  in  Salt  Lake  City.  A  '  Destroying  Angel '  on  Journal 
ists.  The  Salt  Lake  Poetess.  A  Few  of  her  Early  Stanzas.  Pah  Ranagat  Sil 
ver  Region.  Colorado  River  and  Big  Canyon.  The  Novelties  of  Arizona, 461 

CHAPTER    XXXIX. 

From  Salt  Lake  to  Montana.  On  Waters  of  the  Pacific.  Hanged  upon  his  own 
Gallows.  Virginia  Montana,  and  Alder  Gulch.  Scenes  during  the  Flush 
Times.  An  Hour  in  the  Hurdy-gurdy.  Standing  Astride  the  Missouri.  A 
Visit  to  Helena.  Curious  Painting  of  Fort  Union.  Pitched  from  a  Stage 
Coach.  Costly  Newspaper  Publishing.  Quaint  Indian  Translations.  Vigi 
lantes  Administering  Justice.  Quartz  on  the  Brain.  A  Great  Future  for 
Montana, 475 

CHAPTER    XL. 

Lewis  and  Clark's  Great  Expedition.  Explorers  given  up  as  Dead.  Build  them 
a  Monument!  'Help  yourself  to  the  Mustard.'  Unerring  Instinct  of  Beavers. 
Every  Man's  House  his  Castle.  A  most  Wonderful  Mirage.  Visiting  Great 
Shoshonee  Fall.  Enormous  Portals  of  Lava.  Fascination  of  the  Deep  Gulf. 
A  Bloodless  Idaho  War.  Unattractive  State  of  Society.  The  Chinook  Jargon. 
Scenes  in  a  Great  Quartz  Mill, 490 

CHAPTER    XLI. 

A  Visit  to  Owyhee.  Ruby  City — War  Eagle  Mountain.  Grinding  Quartz  versus 
Stamping.  '  Italian  Summers  and  Syrian  Winters.'  Into  the  Oro  Fino  Mine. 


XVI  CONTENTS. 

PACK. 

The  Poorman  "War;  Capital  Squandered.  Agricultural  Capacity  of  Idaho. 
Bobberies  of  Mail  Coach.  The  Blue  Mountains.  Meacham's.  Down  the 
Columbia.  Lewis  and  Clark's  Old  Camping-ground.  Our  Quartz  Regions.. .  504 

CHAPTER    XLII. 

The  Telegraph  a  Miracle.  Newspaper  Strategy.  Story  of  the  Rebellion. 
Healdsburg  and  Foss-station.  The-  Geysers.  Pluton  River  and  Devil's 
Canyon.  Devil's  Wash-bowl :  Witches' Caldron.  California  Wonders 518 

CHAPTER    XLIII. 

Steamer-day.  Finest  Vessels  in  the  World.  Captains'  Wives  not  Admitted. 
Gull,  Albatross,  and  Porpoise.  A  Lazy  Existence.  Acapulco.  Earthquakes. 
A  Droll  War.  No  Wagon  Roads.  Wonderful  Beauty  of  the  Nights.  Panama..  527 

CHAPTER    XLIV. 

Nativ®  Costumes.  Old  Cathedral.  A  Black  Proverbial  Philosopher.  Lignum- 
vitas  Sleepers ;  Cement  Poles.  Rich  Vegetation.  Panama  Railway.  Aspin- 
wall.  On  the  '  rolling  deep.'  Heavy  Gale.  End  of  Eight  Months'  Wanderings.  537 

CHAPTER    XLY. 

A  Ride  through  Illinois.  Atchison;  Sumner:  Leavenworth;  Topeka.  A  Con 
vention.  Retributive  Justice.  Omnivorous  Grasshoppers.  Farming  by  Ma 
chinery.  Women  Voting.  Lawrence ;  the  Old  Landmarks.  Paola.  One  Cent 
per  Year.  Kansas  Farming.  Dwellings.  Peace  hath  her  Victories 548 

CHAPTER    XLVI. 

From   Saint  Joseph  to  Omaha.      Beautiful  Town-site.    Street  Scenes.      An 
Original  American.     Pacific  Railroad.     The  Three  Kansas  Forks.     Twenty-  \ 
five  Thousand  Workmen.     Lewis  and  Clark.     A  Trip  across  Iowa 562 

CHAPTER    XLYII, 

Pandemonium  on  Wheels.  Highest  Railway  Point  in  America.  Manufactures. 
A  Voyage  without  Parallel.  Eleven  Days  of  Horrors.  Montana.  American 
Breadatuffs  for  Asia.  Humors  of  an  Earthquake.  California  Life  and  Literature  572 

CHAPTER    XLVIII. 

Comstock  Lode.  'Me  Like  Una  Beans.'  White  Pine.  White  Indians.  A  Nation 
al  School  of  Mines.  Kansas  and  Missouri.  Indian  Territory.  Sequoyah. 
'Uncle  Sam's  Domain.  A  Man  that  Can  Wait.  De  Vaca.  Jonathan  Carver.  582 

CHAPTER     XLIX. 

New  Tear's  Day.  Nicknames.  Origin  of  Pacific  Railway,  Its  Beginning  in 
California.  A  Military  Necessity.  The  Terminal  Station.  Running  Fight 
with  Indians.  Snow-Sheds.  Average  Cost  Per  Mile.  Two  More  Roads. 
Uniform  Time  wanted.  Distances  across  the  Continent.  Around  the  World.  597 


BEYOND  THE  MISSISSIPPI. 


N  the  28th  of  May, 


1857,  I  left  St.  Louis,  whirling  westward  by  the  Pacific  Kail- 
road  of  Missouri.  It  was  begun  in  1850  when  there  were  but 
seven  thousand  miles  of  railway  on  the  American  continent. 
Now  there  are  thirty-seven  thousand  miles. 

Slavery  had  greatly  retarded  this  richest  State  of  our  whole 
Union.  Illinois,  building  the  longest  railway  in  the  world  and 
reaching  every  hamlet  with  the  locomotive,  was  far  in  advance  of 
her.  Chicago,  stretching  out  iron  arms  in  every  direction,  was 
fast  gaining  upon  St.  Louis.  But  Missouri  already  felt  the  free 
atmosphere  of  her  great  metropolis  and  the  surrounding  States. 
She  had  plunged  heavily  in  debt  to  inaugurate  a  generous  railway 
system,  guaranteeing  bonds  of  the  companies  to  the  amount  of 
many  millions  of  dollars.  Several  of  these  roads,  in  default  of 
payment,  were  afterward  forfeited  to*  the  Commonwealth,  and  sold 


18  AMERICAN    WINES    OF    THE    WEST.  [1857. 

to  new  corporations  at  a  heavy  loss.  But  they  developed  the  un- 
equaled  resources  of  Missouri,  and  were  the  entering  wedge — the 
first  deadly  blow  at  her  relic  of  barbarism. 

We  looked  up  at  tall  fantastic  turrets  crowning  high  lime 
stone  walls,  and  down  into  deep  valleys  of  luxuriant  oaks,  elms, 
maples,  black- walnuts,  sycamores,  and  cottonwoods,  with  net- 
vwork  of  parasitic  vines.  In  August  the  landscape  is  black  with 
'enormous  clusters  of  elder-berries  from  which  skillful  housewives 
snake  a  pleasant,  domestic  wine.  Now,  among  dead,  ghostly, 
-standing  trunks  of  girdled  trees,  thriving  corn  and  tobacco  con- 
coaled  the  rich,  jet-black  soil.  Autumn  corn-stalks  often  rise  high 
above  the  log  farm-houses,  and  completely  hide  them, — 

•A  mighty  maize,  but  not  without  a  plan.' 

At  the  few  very  modern  villages,  we  heard  native  depot- 
masters  report  '  Eight  smart  o'  sickness  down  the  crick,'  and  little 
darkies  warn  each  other,  '  Get  out  of  the  way,  the  train  has  done 
started.' 

Hermann,  a  German  settlement  upon  our  route,  was  then  pro 
ducing  more  native  wine  than  any  other  point  west  of  Ohio. 
Now,  California  far  exceeds  it.  Wherever  the  sharp  bluffs  of 
Missouri  slope  to  the  southward,  they  are  specially  adapted  to 
vine-growing ;  and  the  State  is  believed  to  embrace  ten  million 
acres  upon  which  the  grape  will  thrive — double  the  area  of  all  the 
vineyards  of  France.  The  capacity  of  the  Ohio  valley  also,  is 
practically  illimitable.  Already  the  mellow  lines  of  Longfellow 
are  not  merely  the  poet's  fancy,  but  literal  truth, — 

'  For  richest  and  best 
Is  the  wine  of  the  West, 
That  grows  by  the  Beautiful  River.' 

The  next  generation  will  see  the  choicest  wines  of  the  world 
made  in  California,  Ohio  and  Missouri.  They  will  be  exported 
to  every  foreign  land.  Americans  will  give  them  to  their  children, 
and  use  them  freely  in  their  households  as  our  farmers  do  milk, 
or  the  Germans  their  Ehenish  wines.  Men  will  have  stimulants. 
No  nation,  civilized  or  savage  ever  existed  without  them.  And 


I 
1857.]  THE    GREAT    MUDDY    RIVER.  19 

wherever  our  native  wines  are  introduced  they  diminish  the  con. 
sumption  of  whisky  and  brandy,  and  promote  health  and  temper 
ance.  'They  who  drink  beer  think  beer,'  but  Catawba  and  Mus 
catel  neither  muddle  the  brain  nor  fire  the  passions. 

Our  train  dashed  up  and  down  heavy  grades,  darted  around 
curves  and  shot  through  tunnels,  to  the  tune  of  Festus : 

'By  Chaos!  this  is  gallant  sport — 

A  league  at  every  breath ; 

He-thinks  if  I  ever  have  to  die,  v 

I'll  ride  this  rate  to  death.' 

The  locomotive  seemed  rolling  straight  to  the  Pacific;  but  the 
fullness  of  time  was  not  yet  come,  and  it  made  a  weary  halt  at 
Jefferson,  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  miles  west  of  the  Missis 
sippi.  In  the  crowded  intervening  years,  the  iron  horse  has  taken 
many  a  long  leap,  over  prairie,  across  desert,  and  through  canyon, 
until  now  he  snuffs  the  salt  air  of  the  western  ocean. 

At  Jefferson — dreariest  and  dismalest  of  State  capitals — I  took 
steamer  up  'the  great  yellow  river  of  the  Massorites,'  as  La  Hon- 
tan  named  it  two  centuries  ago.  Later  travelers  called  it  'the 
Messourie.'  It  is  still  dense  as  then  with  the  crumbling  prairies 
which  it  cuts  away  to  deposit  along  the  lower  Mississippi,  or  add 
to  the  new  land  at  its  mouth,  rising  from  the  gulf,  as  rose  the  pri 
meval  earth  from  the  face  of  the  deep. 

John  Kandolph  exaggerated  in  declaring  that  the  Ohio  was 
frozen  over  one-half  the  year  and  dry  the  other  half.  But  Benton 
told  almost  the  exact  truth  when  he  described  the  Missouri  as  a 
little  too  thick  to  swim  in,  and  not  quite  thick  enough  to  walk 
on.  By  daylight  the  broad  current  is  unpoetic  and  repulsive — 
a  stream  of  liquid  brick-dust  or  flowing  mud,  studded  with 
dead  tree-trunks,  broken,  by  bars  and  islands  of  dreary  sand,  and 
inclosed  by  crumbling  shores  of  naked  soil.  Its  water  will 
deposit  a  sediment  an  eighth  of  an  inch  thick  upon  the  bottom  of 
a  tumbler  in  five  minutes.  Though  at  first  unpalatable  and  medi 
cinal,  one  soon  finds  it  a  pleasant,  healthful  beverage.  I  have 
seen  errant  Missourians  so  partial  to  it,  as  to  urge  that  the  pure 
waters  of  the  Kocky  Mountains  were  unfit  to  drink  because  of 
their  clearness ! 


.20  SCENES    ALONG    THE    MISSOUKI.  [1857. 

One  of  our  eastern  passengers,  pouring  out  half  a  pitcher-full  for 
ablution,  was  utterly  disgusted  with  its  color  in  the  white  por 
celain  basin. 

'  Here  waiter,'  he  exclaimed,  c  bring  me  clean  water ;  somebody 
has  washed  in  this.7 

Its  aspect  quite  justifies  the  Indian  appellation  of  'strong  water/ 
and  possibly  accounts  for  the  tendency  of  whites  to  the  manner 
born,  to  weaken  it  with  whisky.  A  novice  fancies  bathing  in  it 
must  sadly  soil  any  one  not  very  dirty  to  begin  with;  but  it 
proves  soft  and  cleansing. 

Only  in  the  day's  full  glare  is  the  stream  revolting.  Morning 
twilight,  while  the  east  is  silvery,  late  evening  when  the  west  is 
blood-red,  and  moonlit  night,  all  mellow  and  idealize  it.  Then 
every  twig  and  leaf  is  penciled  sharply  upon  clear  sky,  the  turbid 
waters  sheeny  and  sprinkled  with  stars,  and  the  environing  woods 
dreamy  and  tender.  Often  they  are  exquisitely  tinted ;  and  the 
night  pictures  of  the  despised  Missouri,  rival  in  beauty  those  of 
the  familiar  Hudson,  and  the  far,  stupendous  Columbia. 

The  lofty  ranges  of  Montana  hem  the  chafing  torrent  into  a 
narrow  chasm,  but  through  these  prairies  of  Kansas,  Nebraska, 
and  Missouri,  its  valley  is  often  ten  miles  wide.  In  its  long-ago 
stalwart  youth,  the  great  river  filled  this  gorge  with  a  mighty 
flood.  Now,  old  and  shrunken,  it  zigzags  across  from  hill  to  hill. 
Never  having  a  high  bank  upon  both  sides  at  once,  it  will  be 
difficult  to  bridge  for  future  railways. 

We  found  most  of  the  banks  low,  wooded,  miasmatic  bottom 
lands,  dotted  by  a  very  few  log-houses.  Nature  has  been  little  dis 
turbed  by  man.  It  is  one  vast  wilderness  with  a  tree  blazed  here 
and  there.  The  soil  consists  of  sand  deposits,  those  of  a  single  year 
often  a  foot  thick.  It  has  no  cohesiveness,  and  is  cut  by  the  water 
like  sawdust.  The  shifting  channel  sometimes  moves  forty  or 
fifty  yards  in  a  single  week.  Hundreds  of  huge  trees  lately 
undermined,  and  still  in  full  leaf,  lie  in  the  water,  clinging  to  the 
shore  by  one  or  two  claw-like  roots.  When  these  give  way,  the 
trees  float  until  the  roots  grasp  and  firmly  imbed  themselves  in 
the  sandy  bottom.  Then  the  sharp  stems,  often  entirely  under 
water,  form  snags,  the  special  horror  of  Missouri  navigation. 
Always  pointing  down  stream,  they  are  dangerous  only  to  vessels 


1857.] 


TEEEOES    OF    MISSOUEI    NAVIGATION. 


moving  against  the  current.  Thousands  rise  above  the  surface, 
frequently  so  thick  that  a  boat  can  hardly  find  room  for  passing. 
Floating  logs  are  caught  upon  these  upright  posts;  the  water 
pours  over  them  in  little  cascades  till  they  collect  waifs  and  form 
a  great  tangled  heap  of  drift-wood  to  be  swept  away  by  the  first 
freshet.  The  fatal  snags  are  hidden  under  water.  When  a 
steamer  at  full  headway  strikes  one  it  often  pierces  her  to  the  vitals. 
A  few  weeks  after  our  passage,  the  Tropic,  a  first-class  boat, 
moving  ten  miles  an  hour,  ran  upon  one  of  these  death-dealing 
spears.  It  penetrated  her  hull,  pierced  through  the  deck,  pantry, 
and  two  state-rooms,  and  came  out  at  the  hurricane  roof,  breaking 


A  SNAGGED  STEAMER. 


the  main  pipe,  deluging  the  cabin  with  hot  steam,  killing  an  engi 
neer  and  leaving  the  wretched  ship  impaled  like  a  fly  upon  a 
needle.  No  sagacity  nor  experience  is  proof  against  these  unseen 
weapons,  and  one  does  not  wonder  at  the  wrinkled  faces  and  pre 
mature  gray  hairs  of  pilots  and  captains.  Even  boats  appear  to 
share  their  terror.  I  could  distinctly  feel  our  steamer  thrill  with 
disgust  when  she  ran  upon  a  sand-bar,  and  shudder  with  horror  at 
every  snag  grating  against  her  keel. 

Navigating  the  Missouri,  at  low  water,  is  like  putting  a  steamer 
upon  dry  land,  and  sending  a  boy  ahead  with  a  sprinkling  pot. 


22  A    STORY    OF    STEAMBOAT    RACING.  [1857. 

Our  boat  rubbed  and  scraped  upon  sand-bars,  and  they  stopped  us 
abruptly  a  dozen  times  a  day.  From  the  extreme  bow  on  the 
lower  deck  a  man  sounds  with  line  and  plummet.  Every  minute 
or  two,  he  reports  in  drawling  sing-song,  'Four  and  a  h-a-l-f,' 
'F-i-v-e  feet,'  'Quarter  less  t-w-a-i-n,'  (a  quarter  fathom  less  than 
two  fathoms,)  '  M-a-r-k  twain,'  '  N-o  bottom,'  until  the  pilot  rings 
his  bell  and  the  danger  is  past. 

Compared  with  ocean  vessels,  these  river  steamers  seem  light 
and  fragile  as  pasteboard,  and  if  they  take  fire,  they  burn  like  tin 
der.  But  many  run  fifteen  miles  an  hour  with  the  current,  carry 
enormous  loads,  and  often  pay  for  themselves  in  a  single  year. 
Still  their  hey-day  is  over.  The  conquering  railway  robs 
them  of  nearly  all  passengers,  and  much  freight.  Gone  forever 
the  era  of  universal  racing,  with  all  its  attendant  excitements ; — ^ 
its  pet  steamers,  high  wagers,  and  fierce  rivalry ! 

A  good  share  of  American  human  nature  was  exhibited  by 
the  old  lady,  who  took  passage,  for  the  first  time,  on  a  steamboat, 
with  several  barrels  of  lard  from  her  Kentucky  plantation  for  the 
New  Orleans  market.  Familiar  with  horrible  legends  of  explo 
sion,  collision,  midnight  conflagration,  she  was  tremblingly 
alive  to  the  dangers  of  her  position.  She  had  extorted  a  solemn 
promise  from  the  captain  that  there  should  be  no  racing,  which  re 
lieved  her  pressing  anxiety.  But  on  the  second  day,  a  rival  boat 
came  in  sight,  and  kept  gaining  upon  them.  Their  speed  was 
increased,  but  still,  nearer  and  nearer  came  the  rival  until  side  by 
side  the  noble  steamers  wrestled  for  victory.  Quivering  in  every 
tense  nerve  and  strong  muscle  with  the  life  and  will  and  power 
that  man  had  given  them,  they  shot  madly  down  the  stream. 

The  passengers  crowded  the  deck.  Every  pound  of  steam  was 
put  on.  The  old  lady's  nerves  began  to  thrill  with  the  general 
excitement.  Life  was  sweet  and  lard  precious,  but  what  was  death 
to  being  beaten  ? 

'Captain,'  she  implored,  *  can't  we  go  faster?' 

*  Not  by  burning  wood,'  was  the  reply ;  '  we  might  with  oil.' 
'  At  that  moment  the  prow  of  the  other  steamer  darted  a  few  feet 
ahead.     This  was  too  much. 

i Captain,'  she  shrieked,  'if  you  let  that  boat  pass  us,  I'll  never 
travel  with  you  again.  Knock  open  my  lard  barrels  and  fire  up 
with  them  /' 


1857.]  STOPPING    TO    'WOOD    UP.7  23 

Upon  this  strange  old  river  a  boat  stops  wherever  she  likes,  ex 
temporizing  a  wharf  by  running  out  a  staging  to  the  bank  for 
landing  passengers  and  freight.  After  dark,  we  tied  up  to  a  tree 
in  front  of  a  wood-pile,  where  a  shingle,  nailed  to  a  stake,  was  la 
belled  'Fore  Dollars  a  cord.'  By  glaring  torches  we  saw  the 
well-drilled  negro  deck-hands  follow  each  other  briskly  up  the 
staging,  out  among  the  huge  trees,  and  come  back  in  endless  pro 
cession,  bending  under  enormous  burdens  of  cottonwood.  Almost 
as  soon  as  our  clerk  could  pay  the  owner,  who  mysteriously  ap 
peared  from  some  hidden  log-house  in  the  forest,  four  cords  were 
loaded,  and  we  moved  on.  These  dwellers  in  the  wilderness, 
whose  whole  income  is  derived  from  selling  wood  to  steamers, 
abound  along  the  shores. 

Thus  we  journey  up  against  the  strong  current,  which  drains  a 
continent,  forming  a  great  natural  highway,  for  four  thousand 
miles,  from  the  gates  of  the  Eocky  Mountains  to  the  southern 
gulf.  This  is  the  annual  migration.  Every  spring  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  our  countrymen  go  westward,  as  inevitably  as  wild 
geese  fly  south  on  the  approach  of  winter.  We  are  indeed  'A 
bivouac  rather  than  a  nation,  a  grand  army  moving  from  Atlantic 
to  Pacific,  and  pitching  tents  by  the  way.'  It  is  not  from  acci 
dent,  or  American  restlessness,  but  Law  fixed,  inexorable  as  that 
compelling  water  to  its  level,  or  the  magnet  to  its  pole. 

In  all  ages  and  countries,  how  uniform  the  course  of  civiliza 
tion  toward  the  setting  sun — that  Mecca  which  needs  the  memory 
of  no  prophet  to  draw  thither  its  living  pilgrims — that  'land  be 
yond  the  river,'  where  Greek  poet  and  American  Indian,  alike 
place  the  abode  of  their  dead !  From  the  dim  confines  of  Egypt 
and  China,  has  the  spirit  of  Progress,  like  the  fabled  one  of  Jew 
ish  legend  doomed  to  no  respite  from  his  wanderings,  marched 
on — by  Greece,  Rome,  and  Western  Europe,  across  the  Atlantic, 
through  Jamestown  harbor,  over  Plymouth  Rock — on,  on,  toward 
the  serene  Pacific.  Ere  long  through  the  Golden  Gate  of  San 
Francisco,  it  will  go  out  by  the  islands  of  the  sea  to  that  dreamy 
Orient  where  it  was  born.  And  then — what  ? 

On  our  crowded  steamer  every  state-room  is  filled,  and  nightly 
the  cabin  floor  is  covered  with  sleepers  upon  mattresses.  One 
can  not  promenade  without  endangering  some  unfortunate  slum- 


24  ORATION    BY    A    STEAMBOAT    GAMBLER.          [1857. 

berer,  and  calling  forth  expostulations,  or  curses,  according  to  his 
ruling  temperament.  Forward,  near  the  clerk's  office,  is  a  convo 
cation  of  restless  passengers  around  a  little  table.  Upon  it  a  gam 
bler  with  hang-dog  face,  wearing  a  white  hat  with  broad  band  of 
black  crape,  has  arrayed  two  or  three  gold  and  silver  watches, 
with  money,  penknives,  ear-rings,  breast-pins,  and  other  cheap 
articles,  each  in  one  of  the  little  numbered  squares  of  an  oil  cloth. 

'Gentlemen,'  he  begins,  'you  can  throw  the  dice  for  fifty  cents. 
For  every  figure  you  turn  up  there  is  a  corresponding  figure  on  the 
cloth,  and  you  draw  whatever  rests  upon  it.  There  are  no  blanks. 
You  may  get  this  superb  gold  chronometer  watch  worth  one  hun 
dred  and  forty  dollars,  or  this  magnificent  English  lever,  which 
cost  fifty  dollars  at  wholesale,  or  this  elegant  silver  goblet,  cheap 
at  ten  dollars.  You  are  certain  to  get  some  article  worth  twice 
your  money.' 

A  backwoods  Missouri  boy  in  white  wool  hat  and  corduroys 
produces  half  a  dollar,  and  with  nervous  hand  throws  the  dice. 

'All  right,  sir — two,  five,  fourteen.  Fourteen  draws  these 
splendid  gold  ear-rings,  worth  three  dollars  and  a  half,'  (actual 
value  about  one  dime.)  'Try  again,  sir?  Very  well;  here 
is  your  change.  Luck  again.  Eight  wins  you  this  ten-dollar 
bead  purse.  Once  more?  Wait  a  minute ;  this  gentleman's  turn 
first.  Sixteen.  You  have  won  that  splendid  enamel-cased  ivory- 
handled  bowie.  You'll  try  another?  Certainly.  Twenty-one. 
By  Jove !  you  have  the  silver  goblet.  At  this  rate  you'll  break 
me  in  two  hours ;  but  I  won't  back  out — not  one  of  the  backing- 
out  kind.  What  will  I  give  you  for  the  knife  and  goblet  ?  Five 
dollars.  Take  it,  do  you?  Here's  your  money.  Who  will  be 
the  next  lucky  man  ?  Keep  the  game  lively,  gentlemen.' 

The  gentlemen  do  keep  it  lively.  That  re-purchase  was  a 
master-stroke.  It  brings  down  the  half  dollars  like  rain,  and  the 
gambler  reaps  a  rich  harvest.  The  secret  is,  that  the  three  or 
four  really  valuable  articles  are  upon  figures  which  the  dice  never 
exhibit,  and  on  the  others  there  is  a  profit  of  three  or  four  hun 
dred  per  cent.  The  victims  are  as  profound  philosophers  as  those 
who  proposed  to  buy  all  the  tickets  in  a  lottery,  and  thus  be  sure 
of  the  prizes !  They  have  failed  to  learn  the  great  principle  of 
commerce,  that  goods  do  not  sell  for  less  than  cost. 


1857.]  ALL    VARIETIES    OF    PASSENGERS.  25 

At  the  same  moment  the  dim  lights  shine  upon  a  serious  group 
holding  a  prayer-meeting  at  the  other  end  of  the  cabin,  and  we 
hear  the  faint,  subdued  tones  of  hymn,  exhortation, 'and  prayer. 
Was  there  a  Missouri  steamer  pictured  in  the  prophetic  soul  of 
old  Daniel  Defoe  when  he  wrote, — 


4  Wherever  God  erects  a  house  of  prayer, 
The  devil  always  builds  a  chapel  there ; 
And  'twill  be  found  upon  examination, 
The  latter  has  the  largest  congregation?' 

Our  passengers  exhibit  life  in  every  phase.  Here  are  young 
men  and  young  married  couples  from  eastern  and  middle  States, 
seeking  fairer  opportunities  and  broader  fields  of  effort  in  the 
ample,  generous  West.  Here  is  the  youthful  Missourian  with 
slouched  hat,  whose  red  flannel  shirt  is  decorated  with  black 
anchors  and  glaring  scarlet  braid ;  the  sallow,  nervous  merchant 
with  his  summer  stock  of  goods;  the  well-to-do  planter,  tall  and 
portly,  with  large,  brunette  wife,  and  two  or  three  white-eyed 
coal-headed  young  Topseys — all  returning  from  trips  to  St.  Louis. 
Mingling  with  them  are  the  young  missionary  in  solemn  black, 
and  white  cravat ;  the  irrepressible  agent  of  a  new  Kansas  town 
proving  incontestably  by  statistics  and  diagrams  that  his  will 
become  the  largest  city  west  of  New  York ;  the  eager-eyed  specu 
lator  bound  for  the  land  sales,  with  wonderful  stories  of  his  uncle 
who  became  a  millionaire  from  Chicago  investments,  or  his  wife's 
cousin  who  made  forty  thousand  dollars  in  six  months  upon 
Michigan  pine-lands ;  the  enthusiastic  German  whose  blue  eyes 
sparkle  as  they  catch  the  gleam  of  a  golden  future,  or  grow  tender 
in  the  subduing  moonlight,  as  he  talks  of  his  boyhood's  home  on 
the  Khine.  So  our  boat  moves  on,  bearing  its  measure  of  hope 
and  joy  and  sorrow — a  little  world,  but  holding  in  nice  proportion 
all  the  elements  of  the  great  world  without.  Euled  by  the  same 
sweet  love,  and  the  same  restless  ambition — by  memory  whose 
tender  sorrow  no  future  can  turn  into  gladness,  and  hope,  the 
Jight  of  whose  eager  eyes  no  darkened  past  can  quench. 

We  reached  Kansas  City,  Missouri,  in  two  days  from  St.  Louis, 
and  thought  it  excellent  time.  Once  afterward,  in  low  water,  T 


26 


ARRIVAL    IN    KANSAS    CITY. 


[185T. 


was  nine  days  making  the  journey.  The  ears  now  accomplish 
it  in  fourteen  hours. 

Kansas  City  perching  on  a  high  bluff  commanding  a  fine  view 
of  the  river  for  miles  below,  was  a  very  important  point — in  a 
neck-and-neck  race  with  Leavenworth  and  St.  Joseph  for  the  rich, 
prize  of  the  great  commercial  metropolis  of  the  far  West.  In 
front  of  the  town  the  broad  bouldered  landing  sloping  down  to 
the  water's  edge  presented  a  confused  picture  of  immense  piles  of 
freight,  horse,  ox,  and  mule  teams  receiving  merchandise  from  the 
steamers,  scores  of  immigrant  wagons,  and  a  busy  crowd  of 
whites,  Indians,  half-breeds,  negroes  and  Mexicans. 

There  were  solid  brick  houses  and  low  frame  shanties  along  the 
levee,  and  scattered  unfinished  buildings  on  the  hill  above,  where 
*  the  Grade '  was  being  cut  fifteen  or  twenty  feet  deep,  through 

abrupt  bluffs.  Carts  and 
horses  wallowed  in  the  mud 
of  these  deep  excavations; 
and  the  houses  stood  trem 
bling  on  the  verge  as  if  in 
fear  of  tumbling  over. 
Drinking  saloons  abounded, 
and  every  thing  wore  the 
accidental,  transition  look  of 
new  settlements. 

But  there  was  much  stir 
and  vitality,  and  the  popula 
tion,  numbering  two  thou 
sand,  had  unbounded,  un 
questioning  faith  that  here 
was  the  City  of  the  Future. 
A  mile  and  a  half  from  the 
river  building  lots  one  hun 
dred  feet  by  fifty  were  selling 

"at  from  three  hundred  to  seven  hundred  dollars.  Lots  three  blocks 
from  the  landing  commanded  one  thousand  dollars,  and  a  single 
warehouse  on  the  levee  rented  for  four  thousand  dollars  per 
annum. 

The  proprietor  of  the  local  newspaper  was  an  old  editorial  asso- 


'THE  GRADE'  IN  KANSAS  CITY. 


1857.]    ENCOUNTERING    AN    OLD    ACQUAINTANCE.  27 

ciate  of  mine.  Four  years  earlier  we  had  been  connected  with 
the  Cincinnati  Daily  Unionist.  The  Kansas-Nebraska  Act  was 
then  pending  in  Congress.  With  strong  anti-slavery  convictions, 
my  co-laborer  wrote  pungent  editorials  against  it ;  and  headed  the 
daily  telegrams  recording  its  progress,  '  Latest  from  Washington : 
The  Nebraska  Infamy.'  Now,  his  paper  was  emphatically  '  border 
ruffian/ 

He  received  me  with  cordiality,  after  the  manner  of  the  coun 
try  instantly  inviting  me  into  the  nearest  saloon  and,  What 
would  I  drink  ?  To  my  suggestion  of  lemonade,  he  replied  with 
a  glance  at  the  rough  crowd  about  us, 

*  That  will  never  do  in  this  country.  Say  whisky/ 
Then  we  took  a  quiet  evening  stroll  beside  the  strong,  noiseless 
river,  which  shone  and  sparkled  in  the  moonlight.  He  not  only 
declared  that  denouncing  the  pro-slavery  aggressions,  would  have 
ruined  him  pecuniarily ;  but  seemed  at  heart  thoroughly  in  sympa 
thy  with  the  community  where  he  had  cast  his  fortunes.  Upon 
the  organization  of  Kansas  and  Nebraska,  societies  for  organized 
emigration  sprang  up  in  the  North.  Under  their  auspices  many 
settlers,  going  in  a  body,  obtained  passage  at  lower  rates.  In 
a  few  cases,  the  fare  of  needy  emigrants  was  paid  by  these  socie 
ties.  The  South  attempted  similar  movements,  but  with  indiffer 
ent  success,  only  'Buford's  men7  from  Georgia,  and  one  or  two 
other  bands  going  in  large  parties.  In  the  North,  after  the 
troubles  began,  there  was  a  rage  for  armed  emigration.  Even 
churches  and  Sunday  schools,  took  up  collections  for  it,  and 
the  Quakers  of  Pennsylvania  and  Indiana  found  their  peace 
doctrines  yielding  to  their  anti-slavery  sentiments,  and  contrib 
uted  money  to  buy  Sharpe's  rifles  for  emigrants.  Whittier's  lines, 
written  at  this  period,  were  very  expressive  of  northern  sentiment : 

'  We  cross  the  prairie  as  of  old 

The  pilgrims  crossed  the  sea, 
To  make  the  West  as  they  the  East 

The  household  of  the  free. 

We  go  to  rear  a  wall  of  men 

On  Freedom's  southern  line, 
And  plant  beside  the  cotton-tree 

The  rugged  northern  pine. 


28  BORDER    RUFFIANS    IN    KANSAS.  [1857. 

Upbearing  like  the  ark  of  old 

The  bible  in  our  van, 
We  go  to  test  the  truth  of  God, 

Against  the  fraud  of  man.' 

My  friend  thought  the  aid  societies  of  New  England  war  upon 
the  institution  of  Missouri,  and  full  justification  for  the  hordes 
which  had  poured  into  Kansas,  overawed  the  ballot-box  and  taken 
possession  of  the  Territorial  legislature.  I  asked  if  there  was  any 
doubt  about  the  border  ruffian  incursions. 

*0,  no,'  he  replied,  '  I  have  seen  thousands  of  armed  Missouriana 
cross  the  Kansas  river  two  miles  from  here  to  vote  at  an  election, 
and  return  home  the  next  day.' 

He  could  not  comprehend  that  the  New  Englander — who  came 
as  an  actual  settler  to  spend  his  life,  and  establish  a  home  for  his 
children — had  a  right  to  vote,  whether  helped  by  an  aid  society 
or  not:  while  the  Missourian,  crossing  the  border  for  a  day  to 
put  in  his  ballot  by  force  and  then  returning  to  his  home  in  an 
other  State  was  a  criminal  invader,  striking  at  the  foundation  of 
free  government. 

I  spoke  of  the  wrong  of  slavery  :  of  the  fact  that  it  was  fight- 
ing  all  the  agencies  of  modern  civilization  which  must  inevi 
tably  conquer  it  sooner  or  later.  He  replied : 

'O  yes;  I  thought  so  once:  I  was  just  as  fanatical  as  }^ou 
are.  But  I  have  learned  better.  It  is  a  mere  question  of  political 
economy.  Kansas,  like  Missouri  is  adapted  to  hemp  and  tobacco, 
which  can  be  raised  only  by  slave  labor.  The  negro  is  far  better 
off  here  than  in  the  so-called  freedom  of  the  North.  These  Mis- 
sourians,  too,  are  in  dead  earnest;  they  will  fight  and  be  killed 
to  the  last  man,  rather  than  let  Kansas  become  a  free  State. 
And  you  know  the  whole  South  is  behind  them.' 

Months  afterward,  when  as  a  citizen  of  Kansas.  I  tried  to  help 
in  her  struggle  for  freedom,  my  friend  rebuked  me  with  great 
bitterness.  But  time  at  last  makes  all  things  even :  he  learned 
his  error,  became  an  eloquent  advocate  of  emancipation,  and  spring 
ing  to  arms  in  our  great  civil  war,  shed  his  blood  for  freedom  and 
the  Union.  Missouri,  redeemed,  regenerated,  disenthralled,  recog 
nized  his  talents  and  services,  and  while  I  write  he  is  one  of  her 
representatives  in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States. 


1857.]        A     GLANCE    AT     WYANDOTTE,     KANSAS.  29 


CHAPTER    II. 

AFTER  a  single  night  in  Kansas  City,  a  morning  walk  of  two 
miles  up  the  south  bank  of  the  Missouri,  over  the  richest  black 
soil,  shaded  by  stately  sycamores,  brought  me  to  the  Kansas  or 
Kaw  River. 

4  Kansas,'  signifying  '  smoky,'  is  the  name  of  a  degraded  and 
nearly  extinct  Indian  tribe.  Lewis,  and  Clark,  and  all  other  early 
explorers,  spelled  it  as  pronounced,  with  a  '  z.'  It  was  first  famil 
iarized  to  American  ears  by  the  bill  of  Senator  Douglas,  repealing 
the  Missouri  Compromise — that  little  fire  which  kindled  so  vast  a 
conflagration.  Then  many  official  documents  and  newspapers  fol 
lowed  the  early  orthography,  and  to  this  day  a  few  journals  spell 
it  'Kanzas;'  but  the  later  mode  is  irrevocably  established.  At 
its  mouth  the  river  is  three  or  four  hundred  yards  wide.  Its 
waters  would  be  called  muddy,  east  of  the  Alleghanies ;  but  by 
contrast  with  the  turbid  Missouri  they  are  pure  and  transparent. 
Crossing  in  a  skiff  I  stood  upon  the  soil  of  Kansas,  already  classic, 
and  baptized  in  blood,  a  battle-ground  of  warring  ideas. 

I  landed  on  the  tented  field,  not  of  sanguinary  strife,  but  of  the 
city  of  Wyandotte.  This  prophetic  Babylon  was  four  months 
old,  with  a  population  of  four  hundred.  Its  beautiful  site  on  a 
gentle,  symmetric  eminence,  overlooks  low  wooded  bottom-lands 
of  Missouri  on  the  east,  Kansas  City  on  the  south,  and  the  Mis 
souri  river  for  miles  below.  A  few  pleasant  white  warehouses 
and  residences,  and  unpainted  plank  shanties  were  erected.  Many 
more  were  going  up ;  and  meanwhile  waiting  settlers  dwelt 
under  heaven's  canopy  or  in  snowy  tents.  Everywhere  busy 
workmen  were  plying  ax,  hammer,  and  saw;  and  the  voice  of 
the  artisan  was  heard  in  the  land.  The  settlers  were  merry  over 


30  HOW    FRONTIEK    CITIES    ARE   BEGUN.         [1857. 

the  attempt  of  *  Governor  Eobinson  and  a  few  other  lunatics '  to 
found  a  new  town  called  Quindaro  .among  the  rocks  and  hills 
three  miles  above.  The  spot  they  had  selected  was  utterly 
impracticable ;  they  might  as  well  have  sought  to  build  a  city 
upon  the  Natural  Bridge  of  Virginia,  or  the  Palisades  of  the  Hud 
son.  This  information  was  imparted  to  me  with  great  zeal  and 
emphasis  immediately  upon  my  arrival,  and  repeated  at  frequent 
intervals,  during  a  stay  of  two  hours. 

Wyandotte  shares  of  ten  building  lots  were  selling  at  eighteen 
hundred  dollars.  In  founding  a  city,  a  few  speculators  become  cor- 
porated,  by  special  act  of  the  legislature,  as  a  town  company. 
Then,  if  the  land  is  already  open  for  preemption,  they  survey 
and  stake  out  three  hundred  and  twenty  acres — the  quantity 
which  Government  allows  set  apart  for  a  town-site — at  one  dollar 
and  a  quarter  per  acre.  But  the  large  ideas  of  the  West  will  never 
be  satisfied  with  such  a  pent-up  Utica.  So  they  engage  settlers  each 
to  preempt  one  of  the  adjacent  quarter-sections,  (one  hundred  and 
sixty  acres.)  The  settler  can  only  do  this  by  swearing  that  it  is 
for  his  homestead,  for  his  own  exclusive  use  and  benefit ;  that  he 
has  not  contracted,  directly  nor  indirectly,  to  sell  any  portion  of 
it.  The  invariable  alacrity  with  which  he  commits  this  bit  of 
perjury,  is  a  marvel  to  strangers  not  yet  free  from  eastern  preju 
dices.  When  his  title  is  perfected,  he  deeds  his  land  to  the  cor 
poration,  and  receives  his  money  as  per  agreement.  Thus  the  com 
pany  secures  from  five  hundred  to  a  thousand  acres,  cutting  it  into 
building  lots  usually  twenty-five  by  one  hundred  and  twenty-five 
feet.  Ordinarily  ten  lots  are  embodied  in  a  l  share,'  which  runs  in 
this  form : 

NEW  BABYLON  COMPANY. 
No.  514.  New  Babylon,  April  1,  1857. 

This  is  to  certify  that is  the  owner  of  ten  lots,  viz : — Lot  6  in  Block 

19 ;  1  in  Block  30  ;  20  in  Block  45 ;  7  in  Block  68 ;  23  in  Block  104;  3  in  Block  147  ; 
14  in  Block  170;  24  in  Block  189;  12  in  Block  241 ;  and  17  in  Block  252,  in  the 
City  of  New  Babylon,  Territory  of  Kansas,  as  officially  surveyed,  platted  and  recorded. 

THOS.  MUGGINS,  President. 
JOSEPH  SNOOKS,  Secretary. 

|  SEAL,  I 
(Transferable  by  assignment  on  the  back  of  this  certificate.) 


1857.]  A    ROMANTIC    INDIAN    LEGEND.  31 

If  the  town  succeeds,  the  original  proprietors  grow  rich.  If  it 
fails,  having  risked  little,  they  lose  little.  The  site  I  now  visited 
was  purchased  directly  from  the  Wyandottes,  one  of  the  three 
or  four  Indian  tribes  who  own  their  lands  in  fee-simple. 

Strolling  on  up  the  river,  over  an  excellent  road,  I  was  in  a 
richly  wooded  region,  dotted  with  neat  log-houses  and  well  tilled 
farms,  inclosed  by  substantial  Virginia  fences  six  or  seven  feet 
high.  This  tract,  six  miles  square,  is  the  reservation  of  the  Wy 
andottes.  Here  the  surviving  members  of  that  once  dominating 
tribe  have  permanently  settled.  They  sustain  churches  and  free 
schools,  speak  English,  intermarry  with  the  whites,  and  embrace 
civilization  more  readily  than  any  other  branch  of  their  race. 

Two  hundred  years  ago,  the  great  Wyandotte  nation  dwelt  on 
the  shore  of  Lake  Erie.  There  is  a  legend  of  a  far-famed  beauty 
in  the  tribe,  who  attracted  many  lovers,  but  none  could  move  her 
obdurate  heart.  At  last  a  stalwart  chief  laid  siege  to  her  affec 
tions.  Scores  of  scalps  hung  from  his  belt,  and  he  bore  the  scars 
of  many  a  hard-fought  battle.  Though  neither  young  nor  fair,  he 
had  a  face 

'  That  glow'd 
Celestial,  rosy-red,  love's  proper  hue.' 

Before  this  ardent  woer  the  dusky  beauty  relented;  but  she 
would  accept  him  only  upon  solemn  promise  to  do  a  deed  which 
she  was  to  name,  after  he  should  assume  the  obligation.  It  was  rash ; 
but  red  human  nature  is  like  white  human  nature,  and  when  was 
lover  known  to  hesitate  ?  He  took  the  vow.  Then  she  made  her 
demand.  He  must  bring  her  the  scalp  of  a  Seneca  chief,  his 
friend  and  the  ally  of  his  nation.  Entreaties  and  remonstrances 
were  in  vain,  her  hate  was  stronger  than  her  pity. 

It  was  hard,  but  the  old  brave  had  sworn  by  his  great  medicine, 
and,  like  young  Melnotte,  he  kept  his  oath.  He  brought  the 
coveted  scalp  to  this  modern  Herodias ;  but  the  wanton  murder 
inaugurated  a  bloody  war  which  outlasted  the  seige  of  Troy.  It 
continued  for  more  than  thirty  years,  greatly  reduced  the  Wyan 
dottes,  and  almost  exterminated  the  Senecas. 

Why  are  the  banks  of  the  Sandusky,  less  classic  than  the  shores 
of  the  Hellespont?  Why  are  Senecas  and  Wyandottes  forgotten, 


32  A    CITY    AMONG    THE    EOCKS.  [1857. 

and  Greeks  and  Trojans  immortal  ?  The  war  of  the  former  was 
three  times  longer,  greater,  more  romantic.  But  the  Homer  was 
wanting  to  sing  its  epic. 

'  Vain  was  the  chiefs,  the  sage's  pride ; 
They  had  no  poet,  and  they  died.' 

Three  miles  above  Wyandotte,  I  reached  Quindaro,  also  on  the 
Indian  reservation.  It  was  in  dense  woods,  among  great  ledges, 
sharp  hills,  and  yawning  ravines — the  roughest  site  for  a  town 
which  it  hath  entered  into  the  heart  of  man  to  conceive.  But 
here  was  absolutely  certain  to  spring  up  the  St.  Louis  of  the  Mis 
souri  river.  The  proprietors  proved  this  to  me  incontestably  by 
maps  and  statistics ;  by  geography  that  never  blunders  and  figures 
which  can  not  lie. 

Quindaro  founded  upon  a  rock  would  stand  unmoved  when  the 
floods  should  come  and  the  winds  blow.  The  wildest  lashings  of 
the  Missouri,  could  never  disturb  its  rocky  serenity.  But  Wyan 
dotte  was  built  upon  the  sand :  its  shore  was  constantly  changing, 
and,  as  every  body  knew,  the  great  bar  in  front  made  it  impossi 
ble  to  land  a  steamer  except  at  very  high  water.  It  was  mid 
summer  madness  to  build  a  town  there.  Lieutenant  Governor 
Boberts  and  the  other  founders  knew  this,  and  only  wanted  to 
make  money  out  of  immigrants  unacquainted  with  the  vagaries  of 
the  great  river.  Quindaro  would  have  five  thousand  people 
within  two  years ;  and — as  I  was  a  newspaper  correspondent  on 
delightful  terms  of  familiarity  with  the  public  ear,  and  as  I  could 
serve  them  by  writing  the  truth,  the  simple  uncolored  truth — a 
few  choice  lots  could  be  secured  for  me  at  very  low  figures ! 
They  would  double  in  value  within  three  months. 

Shares  were  offering  at  one  thousand  dollars,  and  soon  after  a 
single  lot  changed  hands  for  one  thousand  five  hundred  dollars. 

The  New  England  founders  were  very  much  in  earnest.  They 
had  built  a  three-story  frame  hotel,  the  largest  in  the  Territory,  and 
a  steam  saw-mill  with  an  engine  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  horse 
power.  Substantial  edifices  of  stone  and  wood  were  rising.  The 
main  thoroughfare,  Kansas  avenue,  at  right-angles  with  the  river, 
was  being  excavated  into  a  formidable  bluff,  with  the  wild  expec 
tation  of  cutting  through  it.  Ultimately,  the  work  was  abandoned 


1857.]  ON    THE    ROLLING    PRAIRIES.  33 

and  the  street  stopped  midway  in  the  hill  against  a  rock  and  a 
bank  of  gravel. 

'Quindaro,'  was  an  intelligent  Delaware  Indian  woman,  wife  of 
a  white  man,  whom  the  town  projectors  had  employed  to  pur 
chase  jhe  land  for  them  from  the  Wyandottes.  She  conducted 
the  negotiation  so  skillfully,  that  her  name  was  perpetuated  in 
the  new  city.  It  signifies  a  bundle  of  sticks — strength  in  union. 

In  this  town,  four  months  old,  was  printed  a  creditable  weekly 
newspaper,  called  the  Chin-do-wan — (pilot,  or  leader.)  Its  pro 
prietors  were  capable  and  hopeful :  but  after  that  experiment  they 
retired  from  journalism.  One  left  editing  for  agriculture,  and  is 
now  a  thriving  Indiana  farmer.  The  other  exchanged  types  for 
theology,  and  is  a  prominent  clergyman  of  Cincinnati. 

A  few  days  later,  I  took  the  stage  for  Lawrence,  thirty-five 
miles  in  the  interior.  The  route  was  through  the  reservation  of 
the  Delawares,  containing  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  acres, 
with  no  white  settlers  except  one  Baptist  missionary,  the  Rev. 
John  GK  Pratt.  For  fifteen  miles  we  rode  through  dense  hilly 
forests,  with  occasional  Indian  farms.  Then  we  struck  the  rich 
billowy  prairie — indeed  a  '  beautiful  meadow,'  as  the  Indian  word 
signifies, — 

'  Stretching  in  airy  undulations  far  away, 
As  if  the  ocean  in  his  gentlest  swell 
Stood  still,  with  all  his  rounded  billows 
Fixed  and  motionless  forever.' 

Bryant  describes  with  exactness  the  rolling  prairie.  It  is  like  a 
swelling  sea  over  which  a  magician's  wand  has  stretched,  trans 
forming  it  instantly,  and  holding  it  in  bondage  evermore. 
Glancing  over  thousands  of  acres  covered  with  tall  grass,  and 
dotted  with  groves,  it  appears  the  perfect  counterfeit  of  cultivated 
field  and  orchard.  One  can  hardly  persuade  himself  that  he  is 
not  scouring  a  long-settled  country,  whose  inhabitants  have  sud 
denly  disappeared,  taking  with  them  houses  and  barns,  and 
leaving  only  their  rich  pasture  and  hay-fields.  Not  a  habitation 
is  seen ;  for  the  Kansas  Indians  build  their  log-houses  only  in  the 
woods  which  here  skirt  the  low  creeks. 

Wagon  roads,  revealing  the  jet-black  soil,  intersect  the  deep 


34  TKAVELEKS    ALONG    THE    KOAD.  [1857. 

green  of  graceful  slopes,  where  waves  tall  prairie  grass  with  wild 
flowers  of  blue,  purple,  and  yellow.  Sometimes  over  hundreds  of 
acres  these  blossoms  predominate,  making  the  earth  blue  or 
yellow  instead  of  green.  In  spring  bloom  the  flowers  of  modest, 
delicate  hues ;  those  of  deep,  gorgeous  color  flame  in  late  sum 
mer  and  early  autumn.  Nature  revels  in  beauty  for  beauty's 
sake  alone.  Before  her  simple  children  of  the  forest  she  sits  in 
robes  of  state,  outvying  the  purple  and  gold  of  Solomon.  Slowly 
the  myriad  years  come  and  go — upon  her  solitary  places  tender 
spring-time  and  glorious  summer  drop  down  their  gifts  from 
overflowing  coffers,  though  only  the  steps  of  bounding  deer,  and 
the  voices  of  singing  birds  break  upon  the  lonely  air. 

The  sky  is  of  wonderful  clearness.  Narrow  belts  and  fringes 
of  forest  mark  the  winding  streams.  In  the  distance  rise  conical 
isolated  mounds  wrapt  in  the  softest  of  veils — a  dim  and  dreamy 
haze.  Upon  our  beaten  road  are  immigrants  with  their  house 
hold  goods  and  household  gods  packed  in  long  white  covered  ox 
wagons,  teams  hauling  freight  from  the  river,  speculators  work 
ing  their  way  upon  refractory  mules,  half-breed  girls  with  heavy 
eye-lashes  and  copper-brown  cheeks,  jogging  steadily  along  upon 
horseback,  Indian  boys  mounted  on  black  ponies,  their  hair  deco 
rated  with  feathers  and  their  tattered  garments  streaming  in  the 
breeze  as  .they  dash  by  us,  yelping  'How?' — the  universal  'How- 
d'ye  do  ?'  of  their  race, — and  footmen  with  cane  upon  the  shoulder 
and  carpet  sack  suspended  from  it,  who  look  up  wearily  and  ask 
1  How  much  further  to  Lawrence  ?' 

We  dined  at  a  log-house  on  Wolf  creek,  kept  by  a  *  civilized ' 
Delaware  family.  In  our  presence  the  squaw  thrust  her  hand 
into  the  boiler  upon  the  stove,  and  with  stout  bony  fingers  took 
out  the  corned  beef  which  was  to  serve  for  our  repast.  It  was  a 
trying  spectacle  ;  but  no  worse  than  one  may  sometimes  see  when 
led  by  fatal  curiosity  into  the  kitchen  of  a  first-class  hotel,  where 
the  fingers  of  perspiring  cooks  intrude  officiously  in  the  place* 
where  forks  ought  to  go.  In  real,  as  in  mimic  life,  he  who  would 
enjoy  the  play  must  not  peep  behind  the  curtain. 

Our  meal  would  not  have  tempted  epicurean  souls  who  hold  a 
successful  salad  the  highest  triumph  of  human  intellect ;  but  it 
was  sauced  with  hunger,  and  eaten  heartily. 


1857.] 


A    BIT    OF    YANKEE    INGENUITY. 


35 


"We  continued  upon  the  rich  prairie.  Here  the  once  powerful 
and  warlike  Delawares,  dwindled  to  a  few  hundreds,  after  a  long 
retreat  before  the  fateful  army  of  civilization  had  made  their  last 
stand,  and  were  waiting  certain  extinction. 

We  crossed  the  old  bed,  now  dry  and  grass-grown,  where  the 
Kansas  river  flowed  within  the  memory  of  living  Indians.  A  few 
miles  further,  after  half  an  hour's  ride  through  dense  heavy  timber, 
over  a  jet-black  soil- of  incalculable  richness,  we  reached  its  pres 
ent  channel.  The  Charon  who  ferried  our  coach  over,  had  a  rope 
stretched  across  the  stream,  connected  by  pulleys  with  another 


A   PART   OF   LAWRENCE,    KANSAS,    IN    1857. 


rope  extending  from  stem  to  stern  of  his  long  flat-boat.  By  turn 
ing  the  head  of  his  craft  in  the  right  direction  he  forced  the  cur 
rant  to  propel  it  to  and  fro — a  bit  of  Yankee  ingenuity  which 
brought  little  work  and  many  dollars.  It  was  trustworthy  as 
steam  power,  and  cheap  as  air.  It  was  like  harnessing  the  forces 


36  HOW    LAWRENCE    WAS    FOUNDED.  [1857. 

of  nature  into  a  gig.  Sneer  not  at  its  unknown  inventor,  unless 
thou  too  canst  '  draw  out  leviathan  with  a  hook,  or  his  nose  with 
a  cord  which  thou  lettest  down.' 

We  landed  in  Lawrence,  the  pioneer  settlement.  One  night  in 
1849,  when  this  was  unknown  Indian  territory,  a  party  of  over 
land  emigrants  for  California  chanced  to  camp  near  the  Kansas 
river.  One,  Charles  Eobinson  of  Massachusetts,  was  deeply  im 
pressed  with  the  beauty  of  the  spot.  The  next  morning  the  emi 
grants  pressed  on.  They  made  scores  of  camps  thereafter,  on 
prairie  slopes,  in  green  valleys,  among  mountain  glens,  and  by  sing 
ing  streams.  They  had  the  pleasure  and  peril,  the  suffering  and 
adventure  of  all  that  Early  Migration — that  modern  crusade  whose 
unwritten  history  matches  every  marvel  recorded  in  literature, 
from  the  Arabian  Nights  to  the  Book  of  Martyrs. 

When  the  goal  was  reached,  Kobinson  took  part  in  the  most 
stirring  scenes  of  California.  Among  other  experiences  he  was 
shot  in  a  Sacramento  riot  arising  from  a  conflict  about  real  estate 
titles.  The  ball  passed  through  his  body,  entering  the  stomach 
and  coming  out  at  his  back;  but  he  seemed  bullet-proof  and 
soon  recovered.  Speculators  had  laid  out  a  city,  and  held  property 
at  high  figures.  But  it  was  upon  Government  land  to  which  they 
had  no  perfected  title.  So  other  settlers  *  squatted '  upon  the  lots, 
built  houses,  and  claimed  ownership;  hence  the  Sacramento  war. 
The  courts  sustained  the  speculators,  and  Eobinson  was  imprisoned 
as  a  ringleader  in  the  riots.  But  ;the  squatters,  who  were  largely 
in  the  majority,  elected  him  to  tlie  legislature  while  he  was  still  in 
bonds :  so  the  governor  pardoned  him  out,  and  he  left  his  cell 
among  the  law-breakers,  to  take  his  seat  as  one  of  the  law-makers. 

Robinson  returned  to  his  "New  England  home :  but  that  shirt  of 
Kessus,  the  restlessness  born  of  border  life,  made  him  one  of  the 
earliest  emigrants  to  Kansas.  Through  all  the  years,  that  green 
prairie  by  the  softly-flowing  river,  had  been  photographed  in  his 
memory.  Thither  he  led  his  company  of  pioneers,  and  there  they 
founded  the  first  town  in  Kansas. 

Five  miles  south  ran  the  little  Waukarusa.  Pleased  with  the 
rmme,  they  gave  it  to  their  nascent  city.  Their  first  Herald  of 
Freedom — for  a  newspaper  is  mother's  milk  to  an  infant  town — • 
bears  date  'Waukarusa,  Kansas  Territory,  October  21,  1854,' 


1857.] 


AND    HOW    IT    WAS    NAMED. 


37 


!  WAU-KA-RU-SA.' 


But  the  settlers  soon  learned  this  unromantic  legend  of  the  ori 
gin  and  significance 
of  the  name : — Ma 
ny  moons  ago,  be 
fore  white  men  ever 
saw  these  prairies, 
there  was  a  great 
freshet.  While  the 
waters  were  rising, 
an  Indian  girl  on 
horseback  came  to 
the  stream  and  be 
gan  fording  it.  Her 
steed  went  in  deeper 
and  deeper,  until  as 
she  sat  upon  him  she 
was  half  immersed.  Surprised  and  affrighted  she  ejaculated 
'Wau-ka-ru-sa!'  (hip-deep.)  She  finally  crossed  in  safety,  but  af 
ter  the  invariable  custom  of  the  savages,  they  commemorated  her 
adventure  byre-naming  both  her  and  the  stream,  'Waukarusa.' 
On  reflection,  the  settlers  decided  not  to  perpetuate  the  story,  and 
changed  the  name  of  their  town  to  Lawrence,  in  honor  of  one  of 
its  most  generous  patrons,  Amos  Lawrence  of  Boston. 

It  had  two  weekly  newspapers,  a  Congregational  and*  a  Unita 
rian  church,  five  or  six  religious  societies,  and  a  large  school-room, 
well  furnished,  through  Boston  liberality.  On  Massachusetts 
street  were  the  ruins  of  the  Free  State  Hotel,  and  for  one-third  of  a 
mile  on  both  sides,  rows  of  frame  trading-houses,  with  three  or  four 
brick  and  stone  buildings,  interspersed  with  a  few  pioneer  log-cabins. 
On  the  elegantly  lithographed  map  of  the  town  the  other  streets 
were  systematic  and  regular.  But  actually  their  buildings  were 
too  few  and  far  between  to  indicate  the  thoroughfares  at  all.  The 
eye  only  saw  a  smooth  expanse  of  prairie  dotted  with  a  few  plain 
frame  dwellings.  Lots  were  selling  at  from  two  hundred  to  two 
thousand  dollars  each,  while  wretched  shanties,  which  could  not 
have  cost  one  hundred  dollars,  commanded  eight  dollars  per  month. 
Lawrence  was  already  historic.  Here,  in  1854,  the  vedettes  and 
scouts  and  advance  guard  of  Freedom  in  the  great  conflict, 


38 


A    SCENE    OP    SURPASSING    BEAUTY. 


[1857. 


stimulated  by  the  organization  of  Kansas  and  Nebraska,  pitched 
their  tents.  Here,  in  1855,  armed  Missourians  took  possession  of 
the  polls,  and,  later,  placed  the  town  in  a  state  of  siege;  and  men 
were  killed  on  both  sides.  Here,  in  1856,  after  a  Lecompton 
grand  jury  had  indicted  as  a  nuisance  the  Free  State  Hotel,  (a  cu 
riosity  in  legal  proceedings,)  and  the  citizens  had  given  up  their 
arms  under  promises  of  protection  to  person  and  property,  the 
invaders  blew  up  the  hotel,  burned  the  house  of  Governor  Charles 
Robinson,  destroyed  two  printing  offices,  and  plundered  stores  and 
dwellings.  Then  blazed  the  flames  of  civil  war. 

Now  they  were  extinguish 
ed,  or  only  smoldering.  The 
hotel  ruins  and  two  mud  forts 
remained  relics  of  those  stirring 
times.  Yet  no  halo  of  ro 
mance  clothed  the  miry  streets 
arid  rude  scattered  buildings. 
All  was  prosaic  and  common 
place,  from  the  soiled  floors 
and  little  dingy  sleeping-rooms 
of  the  public  houses,  to  the 
horse  traders  and  town-lot  spec 
ulators  along  the  thoroughfares. 

But  at  sunset  climbing  Mount 

Oread,  still  crowned  by  Lane's  old  stone  fort,  I  viewed  an  eve 
ning  picture  of  surpassing  beauty.  The  site  of  Lawrence  would 
have  charmed  Gibbon's  irreverent  monarch  who  declared  that  the 
Almighty  never  could  have  seen  the  kingdom  of  Naples,  or  he 
would  have  placed  the  Garden  of  Eden  there.  Nature  made  this 
for  a  city.  It  is  flanked  by  terraced  hills  for  suburban  dwellings, 
commanding  pleasant  views  of  the  town  below.  On  the  north 
glides  the  dark  Kansas,  with  deep  forest  beyond.  Toward  the 
south,  smooth  prairie  affords  amplest  room  for  expansion.  From 
the  rude  hill-top  fort,  while  day  died  and  twilight  faded,  my  eyes 
lingered  upon  the  enchanting  landscape, 


MUD   FOUT. 


'  Till  clomb  above  the  eastern  bar, 
The  horned  moon  and  one  bright  star.' 


1857.]  A    WAR    REMINISCENCE. 


CHAPTER    III. 

FROM  Lawrence,  I  took  stage  for  Topeka,  thirty  miles  further 
up  the  Kansas  river.  We  passed  a  log-house,  the  home  of 
Colonel  Titus,  a  notorious  Pro-slavery  leader.  One  morning  he 
offered  a  reward  of  five  hundred  dollars  for  the  head  of  Samuel 
Walker,  captain  of  a  Free  State  company.  According  to  an  old 
East  Indian  officer,  'Hunting  the  tiger,  gentlemen,  is  capital 
sport;  but  sometimes  the  tiger  turns  to  hunt  you,  and  then  it 
isn't  so  funny.'  This  was  precisely  the  experience  of  Titus. 
That  very  day  with  a  party  of  followers,  he  was  surrounded  and 
besieged  by  Walker's  men  in  his  little  dwelling.  Its  logs  were 
bullet-proof;  but  through  the  cracks  between  them  whizzed  and 
whirled  and  screamed  leaden  missiles  from  the  Sharpe's  rifles  of 
the  assailants,  who  lay  in  the  tall  prairie  grass.  The  Border 
Kuffians  vigorously  returned  the  fire;  but  every  flash  from  the 
house  was  answered  by  a  dozen  from  the  prairie,  and  many  a  half- 
ounce  ball  came  tearing  in,  wounding  a  man  or  plowing  up  the 
floor. 

Titus  received  one  of  these  ugly  visitors  in  his  own  arm,  and 
before  night  a  white  flag  floated  from  the  beleaguered  cabin.  The 
attacking  party  ceased  firing,  and  approached.  One  by  one,  the 
inmates  came  out  and  gave  up  their  arms.  Titus  did  not  appear, 
and  it  was  feared  he  had  escaped.  But  at  last  he  was  dragged  forth 
from  a  closet.  His  boots  and  coat  had  been  thrown  off,  and  his 
shirt  sleeve  was  red  with  blood.  Kunning  up  to  Walker,  and 
clinging  to  his  garments,  he  entreated, 

'  For  God's  sake,  captain,  don't  let  them  kill  me !  Kem ember 
that  I  have  a  wife  and  children.  For  God's  sake,  save  my  life !' 

Knocking  down  one  of  his  own  men,  who  attempted  to  shoot 


JURIES    AND    COUNCILS    OF    WAR. 


[1857. 


CAPTURE   OF    COLONEL    TITUS. 

the  crest-fallen  fire-eater,  Walker  conducted  the  prisoner  to  head 
quarters.  The  feeling  was  bitter;  many  Free  State  settlers  had 
been  murdered,  and  Titus  was  one  of  their  most  unscrupulous  op 
pressors.  A  *  drum-head '  council  was  instantly  held  to  decide  his 
fate.  Daniel  S.  Dickinson  used  to  say :  *  If  there  be  any  thing 
beyond  the  fore-knowledge  of  God,  it  is  the  verdict  of  a  petit 
jury.'  His  remark  applies  equally  to  a  council  of  war.  Accord 
ing  to  the  proverb  it  never  fights;  but  it  may  do  any  thing  else 
under  heaven.  This  decided  to  kill  Titus  on  the  spot.  But  more 
humane  suggestions  prevailed ;  the  wounded  prisoner  was  taken 
to  Lawrence,  kindly  nursed,  and  liberated  on  the  first  lull  in 
hostilities. 

Topeka  is  an  Indian  word  signifying  c  potatoes.'  Satirists  trans 
lated  it  'small  potatoes,' — an  interpretation  which  the  Topeka 
philologists  indignantly  rejected.  Here  the  Free  Soil  settlers 
had  established  the  capital  of  their  future  State.  I  found  it  a 


1857.]  ORIGIN    OF    THE    KANSAS    TROUBLES.  41 

hamlet  of  fifteen  or  twenty  houses  scattered  over  a  green  prairie, 
quite  as  beautiful  as  the  site  of  Lawrence. 

Kansas  politics  were  curiously  involved.  There  was  a  fierce 
struggle,  and  two  conflicting  governments.  After  a  conflict  which 
convulsed  the  country  from  Maine  to  Texas,  the  Congressional  law 
organizing  the  Territories  of  Kansas  and  Nebraska  was  enacted 
in  May,  1854.  It  abrogated  the  Missouri  Compromise,  but  de 
clared  its  purpose  neither  to  establish  nor  prohibit  slavery — only 
to  leave  the  question  to  the  actual  settlers.  The  North  regarded 
this  as  opening  to  servitude  a  region  solemnly  consecrated  to 
freedom.  In  some  communities  bells  were  tolled,  and  the  na 
tional  flag  lowered  to  half-mast.  The  South,  especially  Missouri, 
received  it  joyfully,  convinced  that  it  would  make  Kansas  a  slave 
State.  Thus,  in  a  moment,  the  great  contest  which  had  been  grow 
ing  for  thirty  years,  was  transferred  from  halls  of  Congress  and 
eastern  rostrums,  to  the  soil  of  the  new  Territory. 

At  the  first  election  armed  Missourians  overawed  the  polls  in 
nearly  every  precinct,  and  chose  a  legislature  composed  of  non 
resident  slaveholders.  Bloodshed  soon  followed.  A.  H.  Reeder 
of  Pennsylvania,  the  first  Territorial  governor  appointed  by  Presi 
dent  Pierce,  refused  to  ratify  all  the  proceedings  of  these  spuri 
ous  legislators,  and  was  removed  from  office  upon  a  frivolous  pre 
text.  His  successor,  Wilson  Shannon,  of  Ohio,  was  a  mere  tool 
of  the  Border  Ruffians.  So  were  most  of  the  other  Federal  ap 
pointees.  Some  were  notorious  criminals,  who  should  have  been 
in  penitentiaries,  instead  of  representing  the  power  and  dignity  of 
law  and  the  National  Government.  When  a  murderer,  sentenced 
to  death  in  western  Missouri,  escaped  from  jail,  a  witty  Ohio  editor 
warned  the  sheriff  to  catch  him  at  once,  or  the  president  would 
appoint  him  to  some  important  office  in  Kansas. 

Missourians,  in  the  main  honest,  but  ignorant,  were  inflamed 
by  Atchison,  the  Stringfellows,  and  other  demagogues,  into  the 
belief  that  abolitionists  meant  to  establish  a  free  State  beside 
them,  and  '  steal '  their  negroes.  Come  what  might,  peace  or  war, 
they  were  bent  on  planting  their  pet  institution  in  the  new  soil. 

The  members  of  the  alien  legislature  left  their  Missouri  homes 
to  enact  the  farce  of  framing  laws  for  Kansas.  They  made  it  an 
offense  punishable  with  death  to  harbor  or  assist  runaway  slaves 


42  RESISTANCE    TO    THE    BOGUS    LAWS.  [1857. 

and  rendered  any  man,  woman,  or  child,  circulating  anti-slavery 
publications,  or  denying  the  right  to  hold  slaves  in  the  Territory, 
liable  to  imprisonment  for  five  years.  'In  Asia  there  are  no  ques 
tions — only  affirmations;'  and  these  profound  Solons  sought  to 
transfer  that  oriental  despotism  to  the  far  west.  They  required 
every  voter  to  swear  support  to  the  odious  Fugitive  Slave  Law. 
Then  they  enacted  in  mass  the  ponderous  statutes  of  Missouri, 
filling  a  large  octavo  volume  of  eight  or  nine  hundred  pages. 
In  too  hot  haste  even  for  their  clerks  to  change  the  proper 
names  in  these  laws,  they  prefaced  them  by  a  general  act  declar 
ing  that  wherever  the  words  'State  of  Missouri'  occurred,  all 
courts  should  construe  them  to  mean  '  Territory  of  Kansas.'  The 
outrageous  despotism  of  this  unexampled  legislation  was  only 
eclipsed  by  its  ludicrousness. 

The  Missourians  proposed,  but  the  Kansans  disposed.  Only  a 
few  had  been  assisted  to  come  by  emigrant  aid  societies  of  Con 
necticut  and  Massachusetts,  but  an  overwhelming  majority  of  all 
were  Free  State  men.  They  would  pay  no  taxes,  vote  at  no  elec 
tions,  recognize  no  officers  originating  with  the  Territorial  legisla 
ture.  They  scoffed  at  its  *  bogus  laws,'  and  except  in  Leaven  worth, 
Lecompton,  Atchison,  and  Kickapoo — Pro-slavery  settlements — 
utterly  refused  to  acknowledge  them,  and  would  not  suffer  even  a 
constable  to  serve  a  civil  process  under  them.  Occasionally  United 
States  troops  were  called  out  to  enforce  the  statutes.  Though 
the  soldiers  were  insignificant  in  numbers,  the  people  would  not 
fight  them,  for  they  represented  the  National  Government,  how 
ever  sadly  its  authority  was  abused.  But  they  resisted  the 
Missourians  and  Pro-slavery  settlers  in  repeated  skirmishes; 
and  during  this  guerrilla  warfare  several  wanton  murders  were 
committed. 

The  Free  Soilers,  in  a  delegate  convention  at  Topeka,  had 
formed  a  State  constitution,  ratified  it  by  popular  vote,  elected 
Charles  Eobinson  governor,  with  a  full  board  of  State  officers, 
chosen  a  legislature,  and  applied  for  admission  into  the  Union. 
Thus  far  Congress  had  refused  to  receive  them  as  a  State.  But 
they  kept  this  machinery  of  the  Topeka  government  in  constant 
readiness  for  use.  Some  advocated  putting  it  in  force  at  once ;  but 
the  measure  was  revolutionary,  and  most  preferred  to  wait  until 


1857.]  TWO    CHARACTERISTICS    OF    THE    STRUGGLE.       43 

their  oppressions  should  become  intolerable.  James  Buchanan 
was  president,  and  they  shrank  from  an  unequal  contest  with  the 
National  Government,  likely  in  the  excited  feeling  North  and 
South,  to  light  the  flames  of  civil  war  throughout  the  Union. 

I  found  in  the  contest  two  noteworthy  features :  (1.)  Practically, 
it  was  hardly  a  contest  at  all.  Despite  the  tremendous  odds  in  its 
favor,  there  was  no  reasonable  probability  that  slavery  would  take 
deep  root.  In  the  entire  Territory,  there  were  not  a  hundred  bond 
men,  and  all  of  them  could  have  escaped  during  a  single  night, 
without  much  difficulty.  Not  fear  of  the  institution,  but  knowl 
edge  that  the  ballot-box  was  violated,  and  force  substituted  for 
law,  exasperated  the  settlers.  (2.)  The  Free  State  men  warred 
not  against  slavery  in  the  abstract,  only  slavery  in  Kansas.  Hun 
dreds  were  Missourians  or  northern  democrats — in  deadly  terror 
of  being  termed  'abolitionists,' — frightened  at  the  mere  mention 
of  that  mysterious  specter,  'negro  equality,' — but  opposed  to 
fraud,  and  believing  unpaid  labor  prejudicial  to  the  interests  of 
their  forming  State.  As  yet  comparatively  few  were  anti-slavery 
men,  either  from  sympathy  or  conviction.  In  adopting  the  Topeka 
constitution,  an  overwhelming  majority  had  decided  that  negroes 
should  not  be  permitted  to  live  in  Kansas. 

Buchanan's  administration  was  bitterly  hostile  to  the  Free  State 
movement.  Eobert  J.  "Walker,  the  newly  appointed  governor  had 
just  arrived  from  Washington.  His  eight-column  inaugural,  dis 
coursed  very  learnedly  and  unintelligibly  about  'isothermal  lines7 
and  prospective  railways  from  side  to  side  and  end  to  end 
of  the  Territory,  to  be  endowed  by  enormous  land-grants  from 
Congress.  Upon  the  only  question  of  living  interest  it  was  silent : 
but  Walker  was  understood  to  acknowledge  the  validity  of  the 
'bogus'  laws,  and  to  sustain  the  attempt  about  being  made  to  col 
lect  the  taxes  under  them.  The  people  were  as  inflexibly  opposed 
to  these  taxes,  as  were  their  New  England  ancestors  to  the  duty 
on  tea,  or  their  Old  England  ancestors  to  the  ship  money  of 
King  Charles. 

A  Free  State  convention  at  Topeka,  on  the  ninth  of  June,  en 
abled  me  to  study  the  celebrities.  It  was  held  in  the  open  air,  and 
attended  by  five  hundred  people.  Their  intelligence  and  culture 
surprised  me.  Delegates  in  blue  woolen  shirts,  slouched  hats,  and 


44  FREE    STATE    CONVENTION    AT    TOPEKA.      [1857. 

rough  boots,  with  bronzed  faces,  and  unkempt  beards,  discussed 
freshly -sprung  questions  with  rare  fluency  and  grace.  The 
standard  of  speaking  was  higher  than  I  had  ever  found  it  in  Con 
gress,  legislature,  or  national  convention. 

There  was  Kobinson,  the  Free  State  governor,  who  had  been 
held  a  prisoner,  for  months,  by  the  Pro-slavery  authorities, — tall, 
sinewy  and  bald,  cold,  argumentative  and  logical, — a  walking  em 
bodiment  of  serene  common  sense,  the  brake  and  balance-wheel 
of  his  party. 

There  was  Lane,  uncouth  and  unscrupulous,  zealous  without 
convictions,  pungent,  fiery,  magnetic,  his  keen,  eager  eye  stead 
fastly  fixed  on  the  Senate  of  the  United  States, — contorting  his 
thin,  wiry  form,  and  uttering  bitterest  denunciations  in  deep, 
husky  gutturals.  He  was  once  lieutenant-governor  of  Indiana. 
Afterward,  while  representative  in  Congress  from  the  same  State, 
he  voted  for  the  Kansas-and-Nebraska  bill.  A  dead  politician  at 
home,  he  came  to  Kansas  to  help  make  it  a  slave  State.  But  his 
-bread  never  fell  on  the  buttered  side ;  he  was  soon  an  Anti-slavery 
leader  and  major  general  of  Free  State  forces  in  the  field.  If 
common  report  was  not  a  common  liar,  his  domestic  life  was 
shameless.  The  Border  Kuffians  declared  that  he  was  heartily  in 
sympathy  with  them  until  the  first  '  bogus'  legislature  refused  to 
grant  him  a  divorce.  He  finally  obtained  the  decree  in  court,  but 
was  afterward  re-married  to  his  divorced  wife,  and  lived  with  her 
until  his  death.  In  pecuniary  matters,  his  unscrupulousness  was 
proverbial.  Again  and  again,  I  heard  tales  like  this:  One  day 
Lane  said  to  a  Lawrence  merchant, 

1 1  want  five  hundred  dollars  this  morning.  I  have  the  money 
on  deposit  in  the  Ohio  Life  and  Trust  Company  bank ;  but  it 
will  consume  two  weeks  to  write  and  get  a  remittance.  Will 
you  cash  my  sight-draft?' 

There  was  no  telegraph  in  those  days,  and  eastern  exchange  was 
always  in  demand.  The  trader  cashed  the  draft;  and  in  due 
time  it  came  back  from  the  Cincinnati  bank,  endorsed — 'Don't 
know  the  man ;  he  never  had  any  funds  with  us.'  Lane  declared 
it  a  mistake,  but  years  after,  he  had  never  repaid  the  merchant. 

Lane  was  an  anomaly  of  our  civilization.  No  other  country 
could  have  produced  him  ;  our  own  never  saw  his  parallel.  With 


1857.] 


LANE'S  POWER  AS  AN  ORATOR. 


but  narrow  education,  very  little  reading,  and  utterly  uncouth 
manners,  he  was  as  truly  a  born  orator  as  Clay,  or  Prentiss,  or 
"Wendell  Phillips.  No  other  American  has  lived  in  our  generation 
who  could  sway  masses  and  legislatures  as  Lane  swayed  these 
men  of  the  prairies.  In  early  days,  without  much  fondness  for 
fighting,  he  obtained  extravagant  military  reputation,  which  ex 
tended  to  the  remotest  cabins  of  Missouri  and  Arkansas.  Again 
and  again,  through  those  inaccessible  regions,  two  hundred  miles 
from  railway  and  telegraph,  have  I  been  asked  by  settlers  before 
the  evening  fire : 

1  Do  you  know  that  man  Lane,  up  in  Kansas  ?     I  reckon  he 
must  be  a  powerful  fighter  P 

A  seemingly  'transparent  demagogue,  sooner  or  later  betray 
ing  every  cause  and  every  friend,  he  invariably  claimed  to  embody 
some  great  principle,  and  made  the  sincere,  the  honest,  and  the  earn 
est,  his  enthusiastic  supporters.  In  spite  of  his  notorious  personal 
character,  he  was  twice  elected  to 
the  United  States  Seriate.  For 
years  he  controlled  the  politics  of 
Kansas ;  even  when  penniless  carry 
ing  his  measures  against  the  influ 
ence,  labor,  and  money  of  his  uni 
ted  enemies.  His  personal  mag 
netism  was  wonderful,  and  he 
manipulated  men  like  wax. 

Like  John  Wilkes,  he  had  a 
sinister  face,  plain  to  ugliness;  like 
him,  too,  he  could  talk  away  his 
face  in  twenty  minutes.  Defying 
every  recognized  rule  of  rhetoric 
and  oratory,  at  will  he  made  men 
roar  with  laughter,  or  melt  into 
tears,  or  clinch  their  teeth  in  pas 
sion.  In  war  times  the  Free  State 
soldiers,  half-starved,  ragged  and 

foot-sore,  often  grew  weary  of  fighting  the  Missourians,  and  the 
power  and  patronage  of  the  United  States  Government,  and  de 
clared  that  they  would  go  home  to  their  suffering  families  and 


46  HIS    PHYSICAL    ENDUKANCE.  [1857. 

neglected  cornfields,  and  leave  the  great  question  to  settle  itself. 
Then  Lane  would  mount  the  nearest  barrel  or  dry-goods  box, 
make  a  ten-minute  speech,  and  conclude  amid  a  shower  of  cheers 
for  free  Kansas,  the  Topeka  government  and  'Jim  Lane,'  with 
his  hearers,  begging  him  to  lead  them  against  the  enemy. 

Kepeatedly  the  United  States  marshal  from  Lecompton  with  an 
armed  posse  at  his  heels  galloped  into  Lawrence  with  a  warrant 
for  Lane's  arrest.  But  the  Lawrence  people  were  miracles  of 
heroic  reticence.  The  first  person  asked  would  perhaps  reply 
that  he  '  never  heard  of  any  such  man.'  Another  would  report 
him  'gone  down  South.'  A  third  saw  him  an  hour  ago,  but 
thought  he  was  now  over  upon  the  reservation.  Then  a  young 
man  with  revolver  at  his  side  would  step  up  and  demand  gravely: 

'Hallo  marshal,  looking  for  Jim  Lane?' 

'  Yes :  where  is  he.' 

'Just  left  town.  I  saw  him  start  for  Iowa  ten  minutes  ago 
with  a  twelve-pounder  under  his  arm.' 

Arnid  the  derisive  laughter  which  followed,  the  angry  officer 
and  his  posse  would  ride  homeward.  Before  they  were  fairly  out 
of  sight,  Lane  would  come  strolling  leisurely  up  Massachusetts 
street,  wearing  the  old  black  bear-skin  overcoat,  which  enveloped 
him  winter  and  summer,  and  asking  if  anybody  had  heard  a  gentle 
man  from  Lecompton  inquiring  for  him ! 

He  was  a  man  of  rare  physical  endurance.  Once  when  the 
routes  through  Missouri  to  Kansas  were  blockaded,  he  started 
from  Nebraska  on  horseback,  accompanied  by  twelve  men,  all 
•anxious  to  reach  Lawrence  at  the  earliest  possible  hour,  as  their 
counsel  and  their  rifles  were  alike  needed.  They  rode  hard,  day 
and  night,  exchanging  their  horses  for  fresh  ones  with  friendly 
settlers,  and  stopping  only  for  mdals.  After  they  entered  Kansas 
a  cold,  violent  storm  came  on,  but  they  did  not  halt.  One  by  one 
they  broke  down,  utterly  exhausted,  and  took  shelter  until  they 
could  recruit.  Seven  miles  from  Lawrence,  Samuel  Walker, 
-Lane's  only  remaining  companion  and  a  man  of  iron  constitution, 
reached  home  so  completely  prostrated  that  he  thought  he  could 
have  gone  little  further  had  his  life  depended  upon  it.  But  Lane 
pressed  on,  reached  the  city  alone,  and  after  three  or  four  hours' 
rest  was  attending  to  his  ordinary  business. 


1857.]  HIS    SPEECH    IN    THE    CONVENTION.  47 

Now,  with  intense  earnestness,  talking  through  every  pore  of 
his  skin,  he  warned  the  authorities  not  to  attempt  collecting  the 
taxes  or  enforcing  the  bogus  code.  Though  quiet  on  the  surface, 
Kansas  was  a  smoldering  volcano.  Those  who  would  open  the 
crater  should  beware  lest  its  hot  lava  make  many  a  Herculaneum 
and  Pompeii  even  within  the  borders  of  Missouri.  By  promising 
donations  of  public  land  for  future  railways,  Governor  Walker 
would  bribe  them  to  fall  down  and  worship  their  relentless  ene 
mies.  Once  upon  a  time  another  personage  took  the  Saviour  of 
men  upon  a  high  mountain,  and  offered  him  all  the  kingdoms  of 
the  earth — whole  townships  of  rolling  prairie,  section  upon  section 
of  the  best  bottom-land — when,  as  we  all  knew,  the  old  scoundrel 
never  owned  a  single  foot  of  it ! 

There  was  Phillips,  resident  Tribune  correspondent — of  Scotch 
birth,  restless-eyed,  agile  as  a  deer,  able  to  out-travel  any  horse  in 
the  Territory,  an  invaluable  scout,  calm,  with  suppressed  earnest 
ness,  integrity  personified — whose  terse,  compact  words  exploded 
from  his  lips  like  percussion-caps,  while  hearers  stood  with  heads 
bent  forward  and  ears  strained  lest  they  lose  a  single  sentence. 
Years  afterward  in  the  great  struggle  of  which  this  was  prelude 
and  epitome,  he  did  gallant  service  at  the  head  of  a  brigade  fight 
ing  for  the  Union. 

There  was  Con  way — slender,  boyish  in  face,  red-haired,  of  Balti 
more  birth  and  South  Carolina  education,  yet  the  warmest  Aboli 
tionist  of  all, — a  man  of  books,  a  student  of  Emerson,  now  at 
twenty-eight  a  judge  of  the  supreme  court  under  the  Topeka 
constitution, — -a  speaker  of  flowing  rhetoric  and  sonorous  periods. 
In  those  earty  days  when  I  believed  slavery  through  the  South 
would  ultimately  die  a  natural  death,  he  said: 

'  You  are  wrong.  It  is  a  thing  of  violence,  and  can  only  go 
out  in  violence,  with  blood  and  the  clash  of  arms.' 

Yet  in  1862,  when  representing  Kansas  in  the  national  Con 
gress,  he  alone  among  republicans  openly  advocated  the  recogni 
tion  of  the  Southern  Confederacy,  and  the  abandonment  of  the 
war,  as  the  shortest  way  to  abolition.  The  Kansas  legislature 
passed  a  unanimous  vote  of  condemnation ;  and  at  the  next  elec 
tion  his  constituents  left  him  at  home.  There  is  a  legend  that 
when  Andrew  Jackson  was  president,  complaint  was  made  of  the 
drunkenness  of  an  army  officer,  to  which  he  replied : 


48  OTHER    PROMINENT    SPEAKERS.  [1857. 

'Sir,  the  colonel's  gallant  conduct  in  the  war  of  1812  justifies 
him  in  keeping  drunk  during  the  rest  of  his  life,  if  he  sees  fit!' 

Upon  the  same  principle  Con  way's  faithful  and  efficient  services 
in  the  early  days  might  excuse  all  later  aberrations. 

There  was  Leonhardt,  a  Hungarian  refugee,  with  splendid 
frame,  noble  head,  and  soul-fall  eye, — a  born  orator,  speaking 
English  like  his  mother-tongue, — with  flowing,  brown  beard,  a 
voice  like  Niagara,  and  a  heart  like  Vesuvius.  At  the  latest 
tidings  he  was  a  soldier  in  our  war  for  the  Union.  Whither  he 
has  since  gone  I  know  not ;  but  storms  are  his  native  element, 
and  he  is  somewhere  an  actor  in  the  world's  tumult. 

There  was  Daniel  Foster,  a  new-comer,  a  Unitarian  clergyman, 
full  of  fire  and  earnestness,  believing  in  an  anti-slavery  church 
and  an  anti-slavery  God.  He  sleeps  in  the  valley  of  the  James, 
where  he  led  his  Massachusetts  company  when  a  rebel  bullet 
pierced  his  brain. 

There  was  Dwight  Thacher,  editor  of  the  Lawrence  Republican, 
a  young  man  eloquent  from  the  State  of  New  York.  After 
enumerating  the  successive  Kansas  executives  who  had  sided 
against  the  Free  State  majority,  he  added: 

'  And  next  comes  Governor  Walker ' — 

A  voice  in  the  crowd  interrupted : 

'Here  he  does  come  and  no  mistake;7  and  an  open  carriage 
containing  the  governor,  his  secretaries,  and  two  ladies,  returning 
from  a  drive,  halted  within  a  few  feet  of  the  speaker.  In  no  wise 
disconcerted — for  Kansas  governors  were  never  held  in  awe,  and 
seldom  in  respect — Thacher  continued,  and  the  representative  of 
Buchanan  heard  sentiments  which  he  regarded  as  revolutionary. 

The  same  evening  a  crowd  gathered  at  Garvey's  Hotel  and 
clamored  for  a  speech  from  Walker.  Small  in  stature,  with  a 
squeaking  voice,  and  without  that  mysterious  something  which  we 
call  Presence,  the  new  governor  did  not  impress  them  as  a  gun 
of  heavy  metal.  When  he  spoke  in  '  the  big  bow  wow  strain'  of 
wielding  the  power  of  the  nation,  he  seemed 

*  A  painted  Jove, 
"With  idle  thunder  in  his  lifted  hand.' 

But  he  spoke  plausibly  and  fairly,  pledging  his  honor  to  resist 


1857.]  RECEPTION    OF    A    BOGUS    ASSESSOR.  49 

any  incursions  or  interference  with  the  rights  of  the  settlers. 
On  the  tax  question  he  was  profoundly  silent.  And  here  I  may 
explain  how  this  was  finally  settled.  Missouri  papers  and  demo 
cratic  journals  both  in  the  Territory  and  throughout  the  North, 
urged  the  collection  of  the  taxes,  even  by  the  strong  arm  of  the 
National  Government.  But  the  people  were  inflexible.  In  Law 
rence  when  the  assessor  asked  one  man  for  a  list  of  his  property, 
a  mob  began  to  gather,  and  he  departed  abruptly.  Upon  his  arri 
val  in  Topeka  he  heard  a  party  of  young  men  step  into  an  adja 
cent  store  and  inquire : 
*  Can  you  lend  us  a  rope  ?' 

I  For  what  purpose  T 

'There  is  a  bogus  assessor  in  town,  and  we  are  going  to  hang 
him.' 

The  officer  absconded  again  in  what  Choate  used  to  call  '  terrific 
and  tumultuous  haste/  fully  convinced  that  the  post  of  safety, 
was  a  private  station.  No  further  tax  efforts  were  made. 

During  a  lovely  June  night  I  returned  from  Topeka  to  Law 
rence  on  foot,  in  company  with  Samuel  Walker,  the  captor  of 
Titus.  He  beguiled  the  hours  with  tales  of  the  early  troubles. 
The  Border  Kuffians  burned  his  house  and  barn,  and  destroyed 
his  growing  crops.  Hunted  like  a  wild  beast,  he  had  several 
narrow  escapes.  Eepeatedly,  while  his  pursuers  were  close  at 
hand,  he  hid  in  a  field  of  tall  corn,  and  he  thought  it  the  safest 
ambush  in  the  world.  For  weeks  he  only  entered  his  dwelling 
by  stealth.  Once,  going  in  suddenly,  he  found  seven  of  the 
enemy  waiting  for  him.  Fortunately  they  did  not  know  him, 
and  even  his  children,  six  or  seven  years  old,  had  been  educated 
by  constant  peril  to  such  caution  that  they  made  no  sign  of  recog 
nition.  It  was  raining,  and  he  addressed  his  wife  as  a  stranger : 

'  I  am  on  my  way  to  Lecompton,  madam,  and  called  to  borrow 
an  overcoat.  Can  you  lend  me  one  ?' 

I 1  have  one  here,'  she  replied ;  '  but  it  belongs  to  my  husband, 
who  will  be  at  home  in  a  day  or  two,  and  may  want  it.' 

1  Oh,  well ;  I  shall  return  in  the  morning  and  will  leave  it 
Good  day,  madam.' 

So  he  escaped,  but  feeling  as  he  phrased  it,  { pretty  streaked' 
until  once  more  out  of  sight.  Brave,  modest  and  true,  Walker 


50  A    COLLECTION    ON    FIRST    PRINCIPLES.         [1857. 

inspired  warmest  affection.  The  Free  State  men  afterward  elected 
him  sheriff  of  Douglas  County,  and  in  the  war  of  the  Kebellion,  he 
was  colonel  of  a  Kansas  regiment. 

Once  more  in  Lawrence,  I  saw  how  debts  were  collected  in  the 
absence  of  law.  A  mechanic  had  sold  a  street-sprinkler  for  which 
the  purchaser,  though  profuse  in  promises,  had  never  paid.  One 
morning  the  creditor  and  two  friends,  armed  with  revolvers,  met 
the  debtor  on  the  street  and  made  a  final  demand.  The  money 
was  not  forthcoming,  so  they  unharnessed  his  horse  and  drew  the 
cart  back  to  the  shop  of  the  original  owner.  The  water-man 
swore  and  threatened  lustily,  but  finding  a  majority  both  in 
numbers  and  weapons  against  him,  finally  yielded  to  inexorable 
destiny.  It  was  a  writ  of  replevin  on  first  principles. 

Ordinarily,  disputed  accounts  were  left  to  referees.  Much 
business  was  done  on  credit ;  but  obligations  were  met  with  great 
promptness.  If  laws  for  the  collection  of  debts  were  everywhere 
abolished,  would  it  not  be  better  for  all  honest  men?  Gambling 
obligations — the  only  ones  which  cannot  be  enforced  by  law — 
are  the  only  debts  always  promptly  paid. 

Lawrence  was  distinctively  a  Yankee  town.  The  '  melodious 
twang'  of  New  England  sounded  on  all  the  streets.  In  Le- 
compton  and  Atchison  were  heard  'whar,'  'thar,7  and  'reckon;' 
in  Lawrence  'neow,'  'idear,'  and  'guess.'  During  the  early 
troubles,  when  it  was  difficult  to  approach  Kansas  save  through 
Missouri,  the  Border  Kufnans  placed  a  guard  at  the  chief  ferry, 
and  compelled  every  emigrant  who  attempted  to  cross  to  say 
'cow.'  If  the  unfailing  'keow'  of  the  Yankee  betrayed  him,  he 
was  turned  back  again. 

Three  thousand  years  ago  the  Children  of  Israel  had  a  test 
precisely  similar.  The  Gileadites  held  the  passage  of  the  Jordan, 
and  whenever  a  fugitive  sought  to  cross  asked  him : 

'Art  thou  an  Ephraimite?'  If  he  replied,  'Nay,'  they  com 
manded  him  to  say  'shibboleth,' — an  ear  of  corn.  If  he  rendered 
it  '  sibboleth,'  they  knew  he  was  of  the  tribe  of  Ephraim,  unable 
to  give  the  sound  's/i'  and  killed  him  on  the  spot.  'And  thus,' 
according  to  the  book  of  Judges,  '  there  fell  forty  and  two  thousand.' 

Dialect  is  undisguisable.  It  is  asserted  that  eighty  years  ago 
the  county  of  every  member  of  the  British  Parliament  might 


1857.]  HISTOKY    REPEATING    ITSELF.  5] 

be  known  by  hi&  speech.  Five  hundred  years  ago,  the  gentle 
Dante  counted  one  hundred  distinct  dialects  on  the  little  Italian 
peninsula.  And  in  the  j  udgment  hall  the  Jews  said  to  the  terri- 
rifled  apostle : — '  Surely  thou  art  a  Galilean,  for  thy  speech  be 
wray  eth  thee.' 

I  reached  Quindaro  again,  in  season  to  attend  a  public  meeting. 
There  were  always  public  meetings.  The  people  were  the  victims 
of  oratory.  Almost  nightly  a  hand-bell  would  gather  together 
from  fifty  to  two  hundred  citizens,  who  would  elect  a  president  *and 
secretary,  call  upon  two  or  three  fluent  speakers  to  harangue  them, 
pass  resolutions  and  the,n  adjourn,  to  await  the  record  of  their 
proceedings  in  the  next  issue  of  the  Chin-do-wan. 

This  was  a  temperance  meeting.  Quindaro  was  distinctively  a 
temperance  town.  Lots  had  been  deeded  with  the  express  stipu 
lation  that  they  should  not  be  occupied  by  liquor  sellers.  Still 
several  low  groggeries,  fountains  of  bad  habits  and  worse  whisky 
had  arisen  to  fright  the  isle  from  its  propriety.  All  the  leading 
women  joined  in  a  petition  to  the  men  '  to  take  speedy  and  efficient 
measures  for  casting  out  the  vile  demon.' 

The  meeting  accordingly  selected  three  of  its  members  to  ap 
point  a  vigilance  committee  of  twenty,  to  cast  out  the  vile  demon. 
It  was  organized  forthwith,  and  sallied  out  at  daylight  the  next 
morning.  The  first  saloon  was  kept  by  a  herculean  German  who, 
refusing  to  give  up  his  keys,  retreated  behind  his  bar,  pointing  two 
enormous  self-cocking  six-shooters  at  the  invaders,  and  swore  he 
would  blow  out  the  brains  of  the  first  man  molesting  him  or  his 
whisky.  Several  of  the  visitors  also  drew  revolvers,  but  the  Ger 
man's  eye  was  wicked,  and  they  hesitated. 

Their  leader,  a  lithe,  young  man,  armed  only  with  a  whalebone 
cane,  had  served  in  Lane's  army  and  smelt  gunpowder.  Turning 
to  his  companions,  he  said  quietly : 

'  Kill  him,  boys,  if  he  shoots  me.7 

Then  he  sprang  over  the  bar  and  wrested  both  revolvers  from 
the  plucky  but  overpowered  Teuton.  But  suddenly  the  German's 
wife,  awakened  by  the  noise,  rushed  from  her  bed-room  to 
the  scene  of  conflict,  dragging  a  clothes-line  which  had  caught  her 
foot,  and  which  was  about  the  only  thing  in  the  line  of  clothes 
adorning  her  person.  She  flung  hard  words,  broken  English,  and 


62 


'CASTING  OUT  THE  VILE  DEMON.' 


[1857 


all  other  loose  articles  slie  could  lay  hands  upon,  at  her  unceremoni. 
ous  callers.     But  they  unlocked  a  closet,  rolled  out  and  emptied 


A    PROHIBITORY   LAW. 

two  casks  of  whisky,  and  one  of  brandy.  Two  other  saloons 
were  similarly  visited  and  purged.  The  Irish  keeper  of  one 
vowed  by  all  the  saints  that  he  had  *  not  a  drap  of  the  crathur,' 
and  none  was  discovered  in  his  house ;  but  a  mound  of  fresh  earth, 
just  outside  suggested  dark  suspicions;  and  from  it  was  exhumed 
a  barrel  of  whisky,  which  was  soon  spilled,  to  his  sore  discom. 
fiture.  Neither  ale  nor  beer  was  destroyed ;  and  just  after  sun 
rise  the  committee  separated  for  breakfast.  A  few  weeks  later,  I 
encountered  most  of  them  at  a  champagne  supper  in  the  very 
hotel  where  they  had  organized,  and  from  whose  front  steps  some 
had  addressed  the  temperance  meeting  which  gave  them  authority. 

1  Strange  all  this  difference  should  be, 
'Twixt  tweedle-durn  and  tweedle-dee.' 


1857.]  FIRST    VISIT    TO    LEAVEN  WORTH.  68 


CHAPTER    IV. 

MY  next  trip  was  to  Leavenworth,  then,  as  now,  the  largest 
town  in  Kansas.  It  was  two  years  and  a  half  old,  with  a  popula 
tion  of  four  thousand.  Fort  Leavenworth — two  miles  above, 
occupying  one  of  the  most  beautiful  sites  on  the  Missouri — gave 
it  life  and  stimulated  its  growth. 

Steamers  were  discharging  freight  at  the  levee,  new  buildings 
were  springing  up,  all  was  activity.  As  yet  brick  and  stone 
were  little  used,  and  timber  was  a  serious  want.  The  chief  native 
species  are  black-walnut,  oak  and  cottonwood.  The  latter,  which 
resembles  the  New  England  forest-poplar,  but  is  even  softer,  cut 
ting  almost  like  cork,  was  largely  used  as  a  make-shift.  When 
put  in  green  and  left  unpainted,  it  warps  wonderfully,  making  the 
house  twist  about  like  a  corkscrew.  Pine  from  Minnesota  and 
western  New  York  was  largely  in  demand  at  one  hundred  dollars 
per  thousand.  None  grows  nearer  than  the  Eocky  Mountains,  six 
hundred  miles  to  the  west. 

Building  lots,  twenty -five  feet  by  one  hundred  and  twenty -five, 
upon  the  river  landing,  were  valued  at  ten  thousand  dollars. 
Three  or  four  blocks  back,  they  sold  for  two  thousand,  and  on 
the  hills  half  a  mile  away,  for  twelve  hundred.  Prices  were  fast 
rising,  money  plentiful,  and  everybody  speculating.  One  lot, 
which  cost  eight  dollars  six  months  before,  had  just  sold  for  twen 
ty-two  hundred  dollars.  Eleven  thousand  dollars  was  now  offered 
for  eleven  lots  purchased  for  fifty-five  dollars  a  year  and  a  half  ear 
lier.  Suburban  lands  three  miles  from  the  river,  bought  during  the 
previous  winter  for  one  hundred  dollars  per  acre,  were  now  divided 
into  building  lots  which  commanded  from  one  hundred  to  two 
hundred  dollars  each.  Hotels  were  crowded  with  strangers,  eager 


54:  A    JOURNEY    ON    FOOT.  [1857. 

to  invest.  Almost  any  one  could  borrow  gold  without  security  or 
even  a  written  promise  to  pay ;  and  the  faith  was  universal  that 
to  morrow  should  be  as  this  day  and  yet  more  abundant. 

I  left  Leavenworth  on  foot.  Back  of  the  young,  crude,  life-full 
city,  the  prairie  exhibited  rapid  settlements.  Ten  miles  out,  I 
supped  with  a  family  of  intelligent  Missourians,  who  had  lived 
here  for  eighteen  months.  Half  of  their  quarter- section  was 
fenced  and  in  corn.  The  claim  was  not  yet  preempted;  they 
must  pay  the  Government  one  dollar  twenty-five  cents  per  acre 
before  receiving  a  perfect  title,  yet  they  had  refused  four  thousand 
dollars  for  it. 

The  day  had  been  hot  as  the  one  in  which  Sidney  Smith 
declared  himself  compelled  to  take  off  his  flesh,  and  sit  in  his 
bones.  But  the  evening  air  was  cool  and  fragrant,  and  the  night 
brought  its  blessing  of  peace.  I  could  feel  and  almost  hear  the 
brooding  stillness  that  rested  upon  the  wide-spread  prairies. 
At  nine  o'clock,  meeting  a  lank  settler  upon  a  little  mule,  I  asked 
the  distance  to  Judge  Young's,  whither  I  had  been  directed  for 
lodgings ;  for  on  the  frontier  every  farmer  has  accommodations  for 
man  and  beast,  and  welcomes  guests,  who  bring  him  the  latest 
news  from  the  outside  world.  The  rider,  long  and  ludicrous 
in  the  dim  starlight,  replied : 

*  Two  miles ;  but  I  reckon  you  won't  get  to  stop  thar.  The 
Judge  is  away,  and  his  family  is  sick.  But  thar's  a  place  just 
over  yon  ravine — Hayes's — whar  I  think  they'll  keep  you.' 

'  What  kind  of  people  are  they  ?' 

1  Well,'  (hesitatingly,)  'they'll  treat  you  well,  and  give  you  good 
accommodations.  A  heap  of  travelers  stops  thar.' 

He  rode  beside  me  toward  the  house.  My  further  inquiries 
about  the  family  he  evaded,  replying  only  that  they  were  from 
Missouri.  We  reached  the  dwelling  to  be  greeted  by  two  fero 
cious  dogs.  For  ten  minutes  we  shouted  and  rapped,  meeting 
with  no  response.  There  were  sounds  within,  but  the  door  was 
Be'cured.  At  last  said  my  despairing  guide : 

'  We  mought  as  well  give  it  up.  My  place  is  over  here  three- 
quarters  of  a  mile.  We're  poorly  fixed  for  strangers,  but  it's  good 
enough  for  us  all  the  time ;  so  I  reckon  you  can  stand  it  a  single 
night.  Come,  and  you're  welcome.  The  fact  is,'  he  continued, 


1857.]    A    NIGHT    WITH    A    KENTUCKY    SQUATTER.  55 

as  I  walked  beside  his  horse,  *  Charley  Hayes,  who  lives  in  that 
house,  is  supposed  to  be  the  murderer  of  Buffum.*  I  am  deputy 
sheriff,  and  have  had  to  arrest  him  twice  in  the  night.  They  knew 
my  voice,  and  probably  thought  I  was  after  him  again.  Perhaps  he 
has  been  up  to  some  new  devilment,  and  expects  me.  They  are  my 
neighbors,  and  I  avoided  answering  your  question,  because  I  didn't 
want  to  say  any  thing  fornenst  them.  Beside,  they  would  have 
treated  }^ou  well,  and  they  keep  strangers  almost  every  night.' 

We  were  now  on  my  guide's  farm,  which  he  declared  '  bully 
land.'  He  lariated  his  mule  upon  the  prairie  to  graze ;  (tied  him 
to  a  stake  by  a  long  rope-  or  lariat.)  Then  with  a  pull  at  his  hos 
pitable  whisky  flask,  we  entered  his  one-story  log-cabin  by  a  door 
which  compelled  us  to  bend  low.  Striking  a  light  he  illuminated 
the  single  room  of  the  dwelling.  It  had  a  huge  fireplace,  and  was 
neatly  'chinked'  and  'daubed;'  (the  cracks  between  the  logs 
filled  with  bits  of  wood  and  plastered  with  mud.)  His  wife  and 
baby  occupied  one  bed,  his  father  and  brother,  both  long  and 
lank  like  himself,  the  other,  while  a  second  brother  of  equal 
dimensions,  with  two  white-headed  children,  rested  upon  a  mat 
tress  on  the  floor. 

Picking  up  his  youthful  soundly-slumbering  scions  as  if  they 
had  been  sticks  of  wood,  he  deposited  them  beside  their  mother, 
and  called  forth  his  brother  from  the  feathery  deep.  Standing  up 
right  in  a  single  garment,  that  bewildered  Kansan  filled  the  math 
ematical  definition  of  a  line :  length  without  breadth  or  thickness. 
The  mattress  was  re-arranged,  and  lying  between  these  prairie 
twins,  I  soon  felt  with  Solomon  that  the  sleep  of  a  laboring  man 
is  sweet. 

An  hour  after  daylight  I  awoke,  to  find  the  family  all  up  and 
grouped  around  the  old  patriarch,  who  was  in  the  act  of  cocking 
my  revolver,  which  I  had  left  on  the  mantle  before  going  to  bed. 
There  was  a  certain  unpleasantness  in  its  sharp  click;  for  the 
house  stood  alone  on  the  prairie,  and  this  was  Kansas,  from  which 
almost  daily  for  two  years  I  had  been  wont  to  read  some  tale  of 
blood  in  the  damp  newspaper  over  my  morning  coffee.  But 
mine  host  was  merely  scrutinizing  the  weapon  to  learn  how  it 
worked. 

*  A  Free  State  settler  wantonly  killed  two  years  before. 


56  THE    FIKST    LANDING    AT    SUMNER.  [1857. 

After  the  whisky  flask  went  round,  we  breakfasted  on  strong 
coffee,  fried  bacon  and  corn-dodgers — little  oblong  loaves  of  corn- 
bread,  baked  in  the  ashes,  which  only  attain  perfection  in  Ken 
tucky.  These  were  the  genuine  articles,  and  prepared  me  for  the 
assurance  that  my  entertainers  were  Kentuckians. 

'In  fact,'  they  added,  'we  are  Pro-slavery  men — Border 
Euffians.' 

What  could  I  reply,  save  that  I  was  a  Yankee  Abolitionist? 
They  supposed  Kansas  was  bound  to  be  a  free  State,  but  hoped 
bloodshed  was  over,  and  that  all  future  contests  would  be  decided 
by  the  ballot-box.  When  I  took  out  my  purse,  they  insisted  that 
they  did  not  invite  strangers  to  their  house  and  receive  money 
from  them ;  and  after  mutual  good  wishes,  we  parted. 

Five  miles  beyond,  on  the  Missouri,  I  reached  Sumner,  barely  a 
month  old.  The  first  landing  from  the  river  here,  was  made  in  the 
summer  of  1855.  The  Border  Kuffians  tarred  and  feathered  the 
Keverend  Pardee  Butler,  and  then  placed  him  upon  a  raft  to  float 
down  the  Missouri.  The  facetious  scoundrels  ran  up  a  flag  from 
the  craft  with  these  inscriptions : 

'Eastern  Emigrant  Aid  Express.' 

'Agent  for  the  Underground  Railroad.' 

'  The  way  they  are  served  in  Kansas.' 

*  For  Boston.' 

'  Cargo  insured ;  unavoidable  Dangers  of  the  Missourians  and  the  Missouri  Rivef 
excepted.' 

'  Let  future  emissaries  from  the  North  beware.  Our  Hemp  Crop  is  sufficient  for  all 
such  scoundrels.' 

Mr.  Butler,  thankful  to  escape  even  thus  from  his  enemies,  finally 
effected  a  debarkation  in  the  silent,  unbroken  forest,  where  Sumner 
now  stands. 

I  found  the  town  with  few  houses  completed,  but  many  in  pro 
gress.  Its  aspect  was  promising,  and  its  shares  sold  for  one  hun 
dred  dollars.  Six  weeks  later  they  had  doubled  in  value.  Three 
years  later,  they  were  without  money  and  without  price — and 
would  not  command  ten  dollars  a  dozen. 

Three  miles  further  up  the  river,  I  came  to  Atchison — the  most 
violent  Pro-slavery  settlement  in  Kansas.  It  was  named  for  the 
chief  Border  Ruffian  leader,  David  B.  Atchison,  of  Missouri,  who 


1857.]       ATCHISON,    DONIPHAN,   AND  GEARY   CITY.        57 

had  fallen  from  his  high  estate,  as  president  of  the  national  Sen 
ate,  and  acting  vice-president  of  the  republic,  to  organize  and  lead 
armed  and  criminal  invasions  into  the  new  Territory. 

Eecently,  General*  S.  C.  Pomeroy,  and  other  Free  State  men, 
had  bought  heavy  interests  and  settled  here,  but  they  were  sub 
jected  to  perils  and  indignities.  When  three  or  four  wanted  to 
converse  with  me  upon  political  subjects,  they  carefully  locked 
the  doors  of  the  little  law  office  where  we  sat,  and  we  talked  in 
whispers,  like  guilty  conspirators.  That  evening  I  dined  at  the 
house  of  the  stanchest  of  therr^  all.  Specially  obnoxious  to  the 
enemy,  he  had  been  dogged,  insulted  and  threatened;  and  his 
young  wife  was  fearful  for  his  safety  at  the  approaching  elections. 
With  pathetic  glances  at  their  sleeping  child,  she  implored  him 
to  return  to  their  Ohio  home.  But  that  mild,  determined  man  had 
come  to  stay;  and  stay  he  did,  and  is  yet  a  leading  citizen  of 
Kansas. 

Atchison  wore  the  dull,  thriftless  air  of  Pro-slavery  towns ;  for 
Border  Kuffians  still  haunted  it :  but  property  was  already  high, 
and  the  new  settlers  had  given  it  a  fresh  impetus. 

Doniphan,  five  miles  farther  up,  named  from  another  invading 
Missouri  leader,  was  also  a  Pro-slavery  settlement.  But  General 
Lane  and  other  Free  Soilers  were  now  joint  owners.  Fifteen  hun 
dred  acres  were  laid  out  in  building  lots,  and  held  a  population 
of  three  hundred.  Shares  were  selling  at  five  hundred  dollars. 

This  was  the  limit  of  my  journeyings  up  the  river;  but  in 
Doniphan  I  heard  much  of  Geary  City,  a  few  miles  above,  where 
shares  had  advanced  from  two  hundred  and  fifty  to  four  hundred 
dollars  within  a  week ;  and  of  Elwood,  still  beyond,  which  ex 
hibited  similar  marvels. 

The  Missouri  flows  along  the  eastern  border  of  Kansas  for  one 
hundred  and  twenty -five  miles.  On  its  bank  fourteen  'cities' 

*  When  on  his  way  to  Kansas,  he  was  accompanied  by  a  friend,  also  from  Massa. 
chusetts,  familiar  with  the  western  fondness  for  titles,  who  said :  '  Pomeroy,  a  man  on 
the  frontier,  without  a  handle  to  his  name,  is  nobody.  Now  what  shall  we  call  you  ? 
You  w§re  once  a  member  of  the  Massachusetts  General  Court,  (legislature.)  That 
title  sounds  well,  and  you  must  have  it.'  The  new-comer  was  accordingly  introduced 
as  '  General '  Pomeroy,  and  never  lost  the  prefix  afterward. 


58  A    MANIA    FOR    SPECULATION.  [1857. 

were  begun.  In  each  property  was  enormously  high;  and  the 
inhabitants  firmly  believed  it  destined  to  be  the  St.  Louis  of  the 
far  West. 

When  Themistocles  at  a  feast  was  asked  to  play  upon  a  musical 
instrument,  he  replied :  '  I  cannot  fiddle ;  but  I  know  how  to 
make  a  small  town  a  great  city.'  Every  Kansan  thought  himself 
a  Themistocles.  Nearly  all  transactions  were  cash,  and  money 
was  plentiful,  though  commanding  from  three  to  five  per  cent,  a 
month.  Shares  often  doubled  in  price  in  two  or  three  weeks. 
Servant  girls  speculated  in  town  lots.  From  enormous  buff  en 
velopes  men  would  take  scores  01  certificates  elegantly  printed  in 
colors,  representing  property  in  various  towns,  and  propose  to  sell 
thousands  of  dollars  worth,  certain  to  quadruple  in  value  within  a 
few  months !  If  you  declined  to  purchase,  they  might  ask  to  bor 
row  six  shillings  to  pay  their  washerwoman,  or  twelve  dollars  for 
a  week's  board.  Three  days  later,  meeting  you  again,  they  would 
cancel  the  debt  from  pockets  burdened  with  twenty-dollar  gold 
pieces,  and  offer  you  five  hundred  or  a  thousand  dollars  for  a  few 
days,  if  it  would  be  the  slightest  accommodation. 

This  pantomime  of  actual  life  began  with  beggars  clothed  in  rags. 
But  the  genie  of  real  estate  speculation  touched  them  with  his 
wand,  and  lo !  the  tatters  were  gone,  and  they  stood  clothed  in 
purple,  adorned  with  jewels,  and  weighed  down  with  gold. 
Young  men  who  .never  before  owned  fifty  dollars  at  once,  a  few 
weeks  after  reaching  Kansas  possessed  full  pockets,  with  town 
shares  by  the  score ;  and  talked  of  thousands  as  if  they  had  been 
rocked  in  golden  cradles  and  fed  with  the  famous  Miss  Kil- 
mansegg's  golden  spoon.  On  a  smaller  scale  was  repeated  the 
story  of  that  Minnesota  wood-sawyer  who  accumulated  half  a  mil 
lion  in  half  a  year. 

On  paper,  all  these  towns  were  magnificent.  Their  superbly 
lithographed  maps  adorned  the  walls  of  every  place  of  resort. 
The  stranger  studying  one  of  these,  fancied  the  New  Babylon 
surpassed  only  by  its  namesake  of  old.  Its  great  parks,  opera- 
houses,  churches,  universities,  railway  depots  and  steamboat  land 
ings  made  New  York  and  St.  Louis  insignificant  in  comparison. 
But  if  the  new-comer  had  the  unusual  wisdom  to  visit  the  pro 
phetic  city  before  purchasing  lots,  he  learned  the  difference 


1857.]    DIFFERENCE   BETWEEN   FACT  AND   FANCY. 


59 


CITY 

INIEW   IBAIBTILOIN 


THE   CITY   OF   NEW   BABYLON   ON   PAPER. 


between  fact  and  fancy.  The  town  might  be  composed  of  twenty 
buildings;  or  it  might  not  contain  a  single  human  habita 
tion.  In  most  cases,  however,  he  would  find  one  or  two  rough 
cabins,  with  perhaps  a  tent  and  an  Indian  canoe  on  the  river 
in  front  of  the  'levee.'  Any  thing  was  marketable.  Shares 
in  interior  towns  of  one  or  two  shanties,  sold  readily  for  a  hun 
dred  dollars.  Wags  proposed  an  act  of  Congress  reserving  some 
land  for  farming  purposes  before  the  whole  Territory  should  be 
divided  into  city  lots.  Towns  enough  were  started  for  a  State 
containing  four  millions  of  people. 

It  was  not  a  swindle,  but  a  mania.  The  speculators  were  quite 
as  insane  as  the  rest, — 

'  Themselves  deceiving  and  themselves  deceived.' 

Any  one  of  them  could  have  turned  his  property  into  cash 
at  enormous  profits.  But  all  thought  the  inflation  would  continue ; 
and  I  do  not  remember  a  single  person  who  sold  out,  except  to 
make  new  investments. 


60 


A    EEAL    ESTATE    REACTION. 


[1857. 


Much  eastern  capital  was  sunk  in  these  paper  cities.  When  the 
collapse  came  it  was  like  the  crushing  of  an  egg-shell.  Again  the 
genie  waved  his  wand,  and  presto!  the  spangles  and  gold  disap 
peared,  and  the  princes  of  an  hour  were  beggars  again.  The 
shares  had  no  more  market  value  than  town  lots  in  the  moon. 
Cities  died,  inhabitants  deserted,  houses  were  torn  down. 


THE   CITY   OP   NEW   BABYLON   IN   FACT. 


The  reaction  caused  little  actual  suffering ;  for  in  the  elastic  new 
countries,  men's  fortunes,  as  the  Chinese  proverb  avers  of  women's 
hearts,  stand  a  great  deal  of  breaking.  But  the  speculation-fever 
unsettled  'the  mind,  bred  extravagant  habits  and  contempt  for  the 
slow  accumulations  of  legitimate  business. 

Of  the  fourteen  river  '  cities,'  Leaven  worth,  Wyandotte,  and 
Atchison  alone  survive.  He  who  died  o'  Wednesday  is  no  more 
lifeless  than  the  other  moths  of  cities  which  flitted  for  a  noonday 
hour.  In  degree,  this  is  the  history  of  all  new  States.  Here  at 
least,  involuntary  man  is  as  profuse  as  voluntary  Nature,  whose 
fruit-tree  smiles  in  a  thousand  blossoms  for  every  maturing  germ. 
Inscrutable  influences  of  climate  and  geography  determine  the 
centers  of  population,  and  the  track  of  empire.  Man  can  no  more 
choose  the  focus  of  emigration's  converging  rays,  than  he  can  by 
taking  thought  add  one  cubit  to  his  stature.  The  dense  western 
settlements  of  that  unknown  race  which  melted  away  before  the 
Indians,  and  of  which  no  vestiges  remain  but  stupendous  earth 
works,  were  identical  with  our  own — near  Cincinnati  and  St.  Louis, 
in  the  Ohio,  Scioto,  Muskingum,  and  Miami  valleys,  and  along 


1857.]  RIVALRY    OF    AMERICAN    CITIES.  61 

the  great  lakes.  Four-fifths  of  all  civilized  nations  past  and  pres 
ent,  have  lived  within  the  world-encircling  belt  between  the  thirti 
eth  and  fiftieth  parallels  of  north  latitude.  Our  own  day  shows  a 
line  of  great  cities — Baltimore,  Cincinnati,  St.  Louis,  Chicago, 
Omaha,  Leaven  worth,  Salt  Lake,  Virginia  Nevada,  and  San  Fran 
cisco — extending,  almost  as  directly  as  the  bird  flies,  across  the 
broad  continent.  Here  run  the  grooves  of  commerce,  the  routes 
of  travel,  the  pathway  of  empire. 

Before  the  railway  era,  one  studying  the  map,  soil  and  climate 
of  the  United  States,  would  have  selected  the  mouth  of  the  Mis 
sissippi,  ite  junction  with  the  Ohio,  and  its  junction  with  the  Mis 
souri,  for  the  three  principal  cities  of  our  great  valley.  But  with 
water  communication  only,  and  in  spite  of  the  strenuous  efforts  of 
man,  they  sprang  elsewhere.  >  Such  results  arise  not  from  mis* 
takes  nor  contingencies.  They  are  controlled  by  immutable  laws, 
far  beyond  mortal  ken.  Nature  keeps  her  own  counsel.  She 
shuts  down  upon  her  secrets  of  state  the  iron  pressure  of  myste 
rious  years  ;  and  Death  and  Life,  who  wait  with  potent  arms  to  do 
her  will,  turn  to  the  eager  questioner  lips  of  marble. 

Leaven  worth  had  two  deciding  advantages  over  all  competitors: 
1.  It  was  near  a  military  post.  Ordinarily,  this  settles  the  question. 
Cincinnati,  St.  Louis,  Chicago,  Detroit,  San  Francisco,  all  had  sim 
ilar  rivalries ;  but  each  was  beside  a  garrisoned  fort,  receiving  its 
protection,  and — far  more  important — its  heavy  trade.  2.  Leav- 
enworth  obtained  '  the  start.'  Emigrants  to  new  countries,  who 
would  cast  their  fortunes  in  the  metropolis  which  is  to  come, 
must  make  no  drafts  on  the  future.  Let  them  turn  deaf  ears  to 
plausible  theorists  with  elaborate  maps,  who  prove  geographically, 
climatically  and  statistically,  that  the  great  city  must  spring  up  in 
some  new  locality ;  but  go  to  the  largest  town  and  wait  un 
til  some  rival  surpasses  it.  In  nine  cases  out  of  ten,  they  will  find 
no  occasion  to  move. 

Walking  back  from  Doniphan  down  the  river  on  the  Missouri 
side,  I  saw  two  illustrations  of  the  rapidity  with  which  the  stream 
shifts  its  course.  Like  the  Nile,  the  lower  Mississippi  in  countless 
ages  has  raised  its  bed  above  the  surrounding  country  and  with 
every  break  in  the  banks  swept  over  thousands  of  acres.  From 
the  deck  of  a  steamer,  passengers  look  down  upon  houses  and 


62  AN    ENCROACHING    ELEMENT.  [1857. 

farms.  Its  mud-deposits  have  enriched  the  lands  along  its  whole 
course,  and  formed  a  vast  tract  at  its  mouth.  This  wealth  of  soil 
is  chiefly  gathered  by  the  Missouri.  I  passed  one  farm  from 
which,  within  a  few  months,  the  heavy  current  had  cut  away 
twenty  or  thirty  acres,  and  undermined  out-buildings  until  they 
were  taken  down,  to  save  the  lumber  from  floating  away.  The 
house,  lately  in  the  midst  of  a  corn-field,  was  now  tenantless,  and 
on  the  very  verge  of  the  water. 


A    MOVING   ACCIDENT    BY    FLOOD   AND    FIELD. 

Weston,  Missouri,  was  once  a  leading  and  thriving  town.  Now 
the  erratic  stream  had  made  deposits  in  front,  until  large  buildings 
-formerly  on  the  bank,  were  one- third  of  a  mile  inland.  At  St. 
Joseph,  forty  miles  above,  and  upon  underlying  quick-sands,  the 
river  was  fast  cutting  into  the  city.  Several  acres  had  disappeared 
in  a  single  year.  Brick  warehouses  on  the  levee  were  now  de 
serted,  and  their  outer  walls  falling.  A  family  in  the  lower  part 
of  the  town  were  at  dinner,  when  the  ground  beneath  them  began 


1857.]  VAGARIES    OF    THE    MISSOURI.  63 

to  tremble.  At  first  they  thought  it  an  earthquake,  but  it  proved 
a  water-quake.  They  fled  to  a  safe  distance,  and  saw  house,  gar 
den  and  an  acre  of  land,  slide  into  the  encroaching  element.  One 
might  contract  to  sell  lots  here  and  deliver  them  in  St.  Louis ! 
It  was  a  flight  of  fancy  to  call  such  property  real  estate. 

At  St.  Joseph,  the  river  originally  flowed  in  front  of  First 
street.  Now  it  ran  along  Fourth,  and  the  intervening  land  had 
disappeared.  A  non-resident  who  purchased  levee  lots  soon 
after  the  city  was  laid  out,  returned  in  1858,  to  look  after  them. 
He  supposed  them  somewhere  in  the  bed  of  the  stream,  but  had 
the  curiosity  to  ascertain  by  survey.  They  proved  to  be  on  the 
other  side  of  the  river,  in  El  wood,  Kansas ! 

A  new  town  was  begun  on  the  Nebraska  bank  of  the  Missouri, 
where  the  stream  forms  the  dividing  line  between  Nebraska  and 
Iowa.  Buildings  rose,  lots  rose  likewise,  and  the  warm  imagina 
tions  of  proprietors  saw,  in  the  smiling  distance,  a  great  city.  Alas 
for  human  expectations !  It  was  at  the  extreme  point  of  an  ox 
bow  curve;  and  during  a  freshet,  the  perverse  Missouri  took  a 
new  path,  straightened  its  crooked  channel,  and  left  the  great 
commercial  city  of  Nebraska,  standing  in  Iowa,  five  miles  off — as 
uncertain  about  its  own  identity  as  the  heroine  of  the  nursery  le 
gend  who  wondered  '  if  I  be  I !'  It  was  a  curious  disregard  of 
State  rights,  a  rare  form  of  involuntary  annexation,  a  novel  freak 
of  manifest  destiny ! 


64  DEADLY    AFFKAY    AT    THE    POLLS.  [1857. 


CHAPTER    V. 

I  VISITED  Leavenworth  again  on  the  29th  of  June,  believing 
the  municipal  election  of  that  day  could  not  pass  without  armed 
collision.  Nor  did  it.  Late  at  night  when  our  steamer  landed, 
watch-fires  blazed  on  the  levee,  drinking  saloons  were  crowded, 
excited  men  bearing  guns  and  revolvers  were  gathered  in  little 
knots,  or  walking  to  and  fro.  A  friend  whom  I  met  pacing  the 
sidewalk  with  a  Sharpe's  rifle  upon  his  shoulder,  explained  the 
cause. 

Most  of  the  Pro-slavery  men,  satisfied  that  their  rule  was  over, 
refrained  from  voting.  The  entire  Free  State  ticket  was  elected 
by  a  vote  of  three  hundred  and  eighty-five  to  seventy.  James  T. 
Lyle,  the  city  recorder,  was  a  young  Georgian  who  during  the 
early  troubles  assisted  in  tarring  and  feathering  and  shaving  the 
head  of  Phillips,  a  Free  Soiler  afterward  wantonly  killed  in 
Leavenworth.  He  was  also  present  at  the  atrocious  murder  of 
Captain  E.  P.  Brown,  who  was  literally  chopped  to  pieces  with 
hatchets,  at  Easton,  Kansas,  in  January,  1856,  and  his  bleeding 
corpse  flung  before  his  young  wife,  who  was  made  a  maniac  by 
the  horrible  tragedy. 

At  the  polls  on  the  day  of  my  arrival,  a  Border  Euffian  ballot 
was  offered  to  a  German.  He  tore  it  to  tatters,  asking : 

'Do  you  suppose  I  would  vote  that  d — d  Pro-slavery  ticket?7 

This  instantly  provoked  an  affray  in  which  all  the  bystanders 
.took  part;  and  upon  both  sides  several  revolvers  were  fired, 
William  Haller,  a  young  Ohioan  whose  property  had  once  been 
burned  by  Pro-slavery  men,  urged  the  German  to  stand  his 
ground.  Lyle  turned  upon  Haller,  asking : 

'  What  is  it  to  you  ?'  and  raised  a  knife.  But  before  he  could 
strike,  Haller  stabbed  him  to  the  heart,  and  he  fell  dead. 


1857.]  A    KANSAS    TEMPLE    OF    JUSTICE.  65 

Haller  was  arrested,  and  strongly  guarded  by  the  police ;  but 
they  were  intensely  Pro-slavery,  and  Lyle's  friends  were  arming 
and  threatening  to  lynch  the  prisoner.  So  the  Free  State  men 
with  rifles  and  revolvers  were  on  duty  to  protect  their  comrade 
and  watch  the  officers.  The  Pro-slavery  party  was  also  gathering 
and  bearing  weapons. 

Through  the  long  night  streets  resounded  with  tramping  feet, 
and  five  hundred  men  were  under  arms,  in  drinking  saloons,  at 
street  corners,  in  front  of  the  guarded  building  in  which  Haller  was 
confined,  and  around  the  little  office  where  rested  the  white,  fixed 
face  and  rigid  form  of  Lyle.  But  no  further  outbreak  occurred. 
The  next  morning  a  preliminary  investigation  was  held  before  a 
relic  of  Border  Ruffian  rule,  who  had  risen  from  a  livery  stable  to 
the  justice's  bench.  It  was  in  the  unfinished  stone  court-house, 
with  unhewn  walls,  rough  benches  and  a  single  table.  The  cigars 
of  the  lawyers  darkened  this  temple  of  justice,  and  the  magistrate 
heard  the  testimony  while  reading  a  newspaper.  Many  witnesses 
were  examined,  and,  as  in  all  affrays,  persons  who  looked  on  from 
the  same  point  at  the  same  moment,  swore  to  exactly  opposite 
statements.  Once  an  attorney  for  the  defense  took  his  cigar  from 
his  mouth,  and  behind  a  huge  puff  of  smoke,  objected  to  certain 
testimony  on  the  other  side  as  inadmissible.  The  justice  gravely 
replied : 

'  The  court  sustains  the  objection  and  rules  that  the  question 
cannot  be  asked  at  this  stage  of  the  game} 

The  inference  was,  that  *  the  court '  played  poker.  Haller  was 
held  for  trial.  Application  for  his  admission  to  bail  was  argued 
before  Judge  Lecompte,  chief  justice  of  the  supreme  court  of  the 
Territo^.  His  decisions  had  been  so  uniformly  and  flagrantly 
partisan,  that  he  was  nicknamed  '  Jeffries  Lecompte.'  Under  the 
*  bogus  code '  framed  by  his  own  party,  all  degrees  of  homicide 
were  bailable;  and  Lecompte  had  released  notorious  criminals 
charged  with  the  murder  of  Free  State  men,  upon  their  giving 
bonds  for  appearance  at  trial. 

But  this  was  his  own  ox  which  had  been  gored.  In  summing 
up  the  testimony,  he  called  Lyle's  bowie  '  a  small  knife  which  he 
did  not  purpose  to  use  offensively,'  though  witnesses  had  sworn 
that  it  was  from  eight  to  twelve  inches  long,  and  that  deceased 


66  A    MURDER    FOR    MONEY.  [1857, 

had  raised  it  to  strike  when  he  received  the  mortal  wound.  He 
refused  to  admit  Haller  to  bail,  ordering  him  to  Fort  Leavenworth 
for  safe  keeping.  The  prisoner  was  taken  from  the  court-room  in 
the  custody  of  six  United  States  soldiers,  amid  the  flashing  eyes 
and  suppressed  breathing  of  the  Free  State  lookers-on,  who  des 
pite  their  reverence  for  the  Federal  uniform,  wanted  only  a  leader 
to  have  rescued  him  by  force.  (At  Lawrence  one  morning  the 
following  winter,  I  encountered  several  mud-stained  men  who 
during  the  previous  night  had  escorted  Haller  from  the  fort, 
whence  he  escaped  by  bribing  the  guards.  He  reached  Ohio 
safely,  and  six  months  later  resumed  his  residence  in  Leaven- 
worth,  where  he  was  never  again  disturbed.) 

Leavenworth  was  the  scene  of  frequent  violence.  On  a  July 
evening  upon  the  river  bank,  a  stranger  named  James  Stephens, 
was  murdered,  and  his  body  robbed  of  one  hundred  and  eight  dol 
lars.  Quarles  and  Bays,  two  of  his  friends  residing  in  the  city, 
testified  before  the  coroner's  jury  that  they  were  walking  with 
him,  when  robbers  attacked  the  party  and  murdered  him,  while 
they  ran  for  their  lives.  But  'conscience  is  a  thousand  witnesses ;' 
their  statements  were  so  contradictory  and  improbable,  that  the 
jury  returned  a  verdict  charging  them  with  the  murder,  and  they 
were  at  once  taken  into  custody.  Then  Quarles  made  a  full  con 
fession. 

Hitherto,  every  homicide  in^Kansas  had  resulted  from  the  slav 
ery  controversy.  According  to  historians,  the  remorseless  Marats 
and  Eobespierres  of  the  French  Eevolution,  who  shed  blood  like 
water,  did  not  take  a  piece  of  money  or  a  watch  from  their  butch 
ered  victims.  They  even  guillotined  their  own  wretched  agents 
detected  in  plundering.  They  would  have  life,  not  gold.  So  the 
Kansas  conflict  had  witnessed  no  mercenary  element  in  all  its 
atrocious  crimes.  But  here  was  a  cold-blooded  murder  for  money, 
^ree  State  and  Pro-slavery  men,  alike  hopeless  of  the  laws,  meant 
to  punish  it. 

-Two  thousand  people  gathered  at  the  jail.  Judge  Lecompte 
addressed  the  mob,  deprecating  violence,  and  asserting  that  all  who 
engaged  in  it  would  be  liable  to  indictment  for  murder.  This  was 
answered  with  the  howls:  'Indict  and  bed — d!'  Lecompte  at 
tempted  to  go  on  but  he  only  elicited  hoots,  and  at  last  ominous 


1857.]  A    MOB    ADMINISTERING    JUSTICE.  67 

suggestions  about  making  an  example  of  him  for  permitting  and 
aiding  criminals  to  escape;  so  he  wisely  withdrew.  Then  another 
speaker  sprang  upon  a  box  and  commanded  the  peace,  announcing 
himself  as  the  United  States  marshal  for  Kansas.  Instantly  arose 
a  storm  of  cries  : 

*  Down  with  him  I'  'He's  the  greatest  scoundrel  in  the  Territory.' 
'Let's  hang  him/1 

The  officer's  voice  grew  husky,  and  his  face  bloodless;  and  he 
too,  disappeared  in  the  crowd. 

The  mob  picked  up  the  city  marshal  and  police  as  if  they  had 
been  children  ;  carried  them  a  few  yards,  and  there  held  them ;  bat 
tered  down  the  iron  door  of  the  jail  with  a  stick  of  timber  ;  dragged 
forth  Quarles,  and  hung  him  from  a  cottonwood  tree  overlooking 
the  city.  For  a  moment  the  poor  wretch  clutched  the  rope  above 
his  head,  lifting  himself  up ;  but  a  heavy  ruffian  caught  him  by 
the  feet,  his  grasp  gave  way,and  he  never  struggled  again. 

Two  hours  later  the  crowd  again  surrounded  the  jail  and  de 
manded  Bays.  In  vain  the  Free  State  mayor  and  other  leading 
citizens  sought  to  restrain  them.  The  prisoner's  wife,  a  vigorous 
young  Irish  woman  fought  like  a  tiger,  but  they  took  her  away 
as  gently  as  possible,  again  used  the  battering  ram,  brought  out 
the  criminal,  and  ran  with  him  to  the  gibbet.  He  refused  to  con 
fess;  held  his  own  hands  behind  him  to  be  tied  ;  and  cast  on  the 
crowd  a  half-scornful,  half-triumphant  expression,  while  he  was 
swung  off  from  the  limb.  To  what  base  uses  may  come  the  stuff 
of  which  martyrs  are  made! 

Meanwhile,  Woods,  an  alleged  counterfeiter,  and  Knighten,  a 
weak  young  man,  who  like  poor  dog  Tray  had  fallen  into  bad 
company,  were  arrested  as  accomplices  and  confined  in  the  may 
or's  office.  Blood  inflames  a  mob  like  a  wild  beast;  the  appetite 
grows  by  what  it  feeds  on.  On  Sunday  night,  twenty-four  hours 
after  the  executions,  six  hundred  persons  collected  in  the  street 
and  began  to  clamor  for  Woods,  with  shouts  of:  'Hang  him  !'  'hang 
him.'  But  this  was  not  so  easy.  The  mayor's  office  in  the 
second  story  of  a  high  frame  building,  was  only  approachable 
by  an  outside  flight  of  rickety  stairs.  At  the  foot  stood  four  deter 
mined  guards,  with  drawn  revolvers.  If  the  crowd  overpowered 
them  and  made  a  rush,  the  stairs  would  certainly  give  way,  and 


68  'THE    MAN    WITH    THE    ROPE.'  [1857. 

precipitate  the  ministers  of  vengeance  into  a  yawning  cellar,  twen 
ty  feet  below. 

While  calmer  citizens  were  expostulating,  and  urging  that  the 
prisoner  should  have  a  trial,  the  shouting  mob  surged  like  a  heavy- 
swelling  sea.     One  young  man  sprang  upon  a  brick  pile  and  dis 
played   a  rope.     Then  went   up   tremendous  cries, — 
1  Woods !'     '  Woods !'     '  Bring  him  out !'     '  Hang  him !' 
But  now  another,  mounting  the  brick  pile,  harangued  them 

1  With  throat  of  brass  and  adamantine  lungs.' 

He  approved  yesterday's  proceedings ;  but  now  let  us  impanel  a 
jury  of  twelve  leading  citizens,  and  try  these  prisoners. 

'All  right !'  'Go  ahead.'  'We'll  give  you  just  twenty  minutes 
for  doing  it.' 

Eleven  residents  answered  to  their  names,  and  went  up  the 
stairs  ;  but  there  was  difficulty  in  finding  the  twelfth ;  and  one  or 
two  whose  names  were  called,  declined  to  serVe. 

'Send  along  any  man,'  suggested  the  volunteer  marshal;  'send 
the  man  with  the  rope.' 

Enthusiastic  cheers  followed.  The  crowd  bore  their  champion 
to  the  foot  of  the  stairs,  where,  with  American  respect  for  the  jury- 
box,  he  left  his  rope  behind  before  ascending. 

The  open  sesame  of  'the  Press,'  admitted  me  to  the  trial  room, 
whose  windows  were  raised  that  the  crowd  outside  might  see  the 
prisoner.  Woods  was  a  Kentuckiah,  fifty  years  old,  who  had  been 
spending  the  day  in  making  a  will,  leaving  eight  thousand  dol 
lars  of  property  to  his  two  daughters  in  Tennessee.  Knighten 
was  a  thin-witted  boy  whom  the  criminals  had  taken  into  their 
confidences.  But  he  only  knew  from  the  statements  of  Qaarles 
and  Bays,  that  Woods  was  their  confederate  in  circulating  coun 
terfeit  bank-notes.  Woods  was  closely  interrogated,  but  denied 
every  thing. 

.  The  crowd  now  grew  impatient,  fired  with  the  usual  fondness  of 
mobs  for  hanging  a  man  first  and  trying  him  afterward.  Shouts 
of '  Time  up !'  '  We  have  waited  k>ng  enough !'  '  Hang  them  both 
any  how !'  rent  the  air. 

The  scene  was  exciting.     A  single  dim  candle  lighted  the  room, 


1857.] 


AN    EXCITING    NIGHT    SCENE. 


69 


showing  the  anxious,  troubled  faces  of  jurors,  grouped  around  the 
prisoners,  in  momentary  expectation  that  the  bloodthirsty  outside- 
ers  would  rush  in.  The  questioning  ceased,  and  the  suppressed 
painful  breathing  of  every  man  present  was  heard.  Knighten 
grew  pale  as  death,  and  great  drops  of  sweat  stood  upon  his  fore 
head.  Woods,  huge,  brawny  and  hardened,  sat  erect,  waiting  his 
fate.  He  spoke  doggedly : 

'Well,  gentlemen,  you  can't  hang  me  but  once/1 


'YOU  CAN'T  HANG  ME  BUT  ONCE!' 

Despite  this  bravado,  his  facial  muscles  twitched,  and  as  all  con* 
firmed  lovers  of  tobacco  use  it  more  freely  under  strong  excite- 
ment,  he  tore  off  great  shreds  of  Virginia  leaf,  and  his  craunching 
jaws  rose  and  fell  with  the  haste  of  desperation.  Outside,  it  was 
light  as  day,  and  the  full  moon  of  that  Sabbath  night  illumined  a 
moving  sea  of  fierce,  upturned  faces — a  dense,  surging  mass  of 
clamoring  uncontrolable  men.  Lady  Wortley,  surprised  at  the 


70  MORMONS    ESCAPING    TO    KANSAS.  1857.] 

costly  dress  of  our  working  people,  declared  that  a  mob  in  the 
United  States,  is  a  mob  in  broadcloth;  but  this  was  a  mob  in  shirt 
sleeves.  A  few  wore  coats,  carelessly  thrown  open,  revealing  leath 
ern  belts,  where  glittered  the  silver  mounting  of  bowie  knife,  or 
the  polished  steel  of  revolver. 

From  the  windows  the  jurors  begged  more  time,  which  was 
reluctantly  granted.  With  two  or  three  repetitions  of  this  scene, 
the  trial  lasted  till  midnight.  Then  they  reported  to  the  assembly, 
that  after  rigid  investigation,  they  had  only  elicited  a  few  facts 
throwing  suspicion  upon  Woods  and  Knighten,  but  nothing  that 
would  convict  them  of  murder  or  other  crime  in  any  court  of  jus 
tice.  To  which  the  crowd  responded  by  calling  for  'the  man  with 
the  rope.'  Their  champion  strong  at  hanging,  but  weak  at  speech, 
making,  appeared  in  the  window,  was  cheered,  and  confirmed  the 
statement  of  his  associates.  Then  the  mayor,  in  a  temperate 
address,  urged  that  the  law  should  take  its  course;  and  the 
quieted  mob  at  last  dispersed.  The  prisoners  were  committed 
for  trial;  and  after  the  usual  mode  of  Kansas  justice,  bribed  their 
keeper  and  escaped  from  jail  before  Jthe  expiration  of  two  weeks. 

While  I  was  in  Leavenworth,  one  hundred  recanting  Mormons 
arrived  from  Utah,  and  sought  homes  in  Kansas.  These  families, 
bringing  all  their  earthly  possessions  by  ox-teams,  had  been  sixty 
days  on  the  long  road  from  Salt  Lake.  They  represented  the 
tyranny  of  the  Mormon  church  as  unendurable,  and  the  practical 
workings  of  polygamy  as  repulsive  and  disgusting.  Violent 
threats  were  made  to  prevent  their  escape ;  and  they  believed  that 
only  their  numbers  saved  them  from  violence  at  the  hands  of  the 
remaining  Saints. 

In  July  one  hundred  thousand  acres  of  public  lands  were  sold  at 
Osawkee,  Jefferson  county.  Theoretically  to  the  highest  bidder; 
actually  each  quarter-section  to  its  occupant  at  its  appraised  value : 
from  one  dollar  and  fifty  cents,  to  four  dollars  and  fifty  cents  pep 
acre.  The  '  settler,'  who  lived  fifty  or  a  hundred  miles  away,  had 
built  a  cabin  or  driven  a  stake  upon  his  claim,  and  could  there 
fore  swear  that  he  was  a  bona  fide  resident !  The  constructive  squat 
ters  respected  each  others'  rights  and  protected  their  own.  The 
first  man  who  ventured  to  bid  against  one  of  them  was  instantly 
shot  down  ;  so  there  was  no  further  competition. 


[1857.  THE    LAND    SALE    AT    OSAWKEE.  71 

Many  sold  their  newly-acquired  lands  to  speculators  at  double 
the  cost  within  an  hour  after  bidding  them  off.  But  hundreds 
borrowed  money  at  five  per  cent,  a  month,  and  invested  it  here. 
I  knew  a  Tennesseean  who  loaned  funds  at  this  rate  to  forty -five 
young  men,  taking  the  Government  title  to  each  tract  in  his  own 
name,  but  giving  a  bond  to  deed  it  back  to  the  actual  purchaser 
upon  the  payment  of  principal  and  interest.  Two  years  later,  ho 
told  me  that  he  still  held  every  one,  as  not  a  single  note  had  been 
paid. 

Money  abounded  and  times  were  flush.  One  evening  I  bor 
rowed  one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  from  a  total  stranger,  to  aid 
in  purchasing  a  quarter-section  ;  for  I  had  not  escaped  the  univer 
sal  mania.  When  I  offered  a  mortgage  as  security,  he  replied: 

'  It  would  be  some  trouble  to  have  the  papers  drawn,  and  cost 
us  five  or  ten  dollars.  Just  send  me  the  money  by  express  within 
two  or  three  weeks.' 

David's  covetousness  for  the  wife  of  Uriah,  was  no  stronger  than 
the  lust  ot  the  frontier  Yankee  for  territory.  Town  shares  and 
quarter-sections  passed  as  currently  as  bank-notes  or  gold  dollars. 
It  was  history  repeating  itself;  for  according  to  Parton,  in  the  early 
days  of  Tennessee,  people  in  trading  used  to  say :  'I  will  give  you. 
a  three-twenty/  or  'I  will  take  a  six-forty.'  Six  hundred  and 
forty  acres  near  the  present  city  of  Nashville,  once  sold  for  three 
axes  and  two  cow-bells.  'The -circulating  medium  of  Europe  is 
gold,  of  Africa,  men,  of  Asia,  women,  and  of  America,  land.' 

Two  thousand  people  attended  the  sales  at  Osawkee.  In  this 
interior  town  of  a  dozen  houses,  a  huge  hotel  had  been  erected ; 
every  building  was  crowded,  and  hundreds  of  strangers  lived  in 
tents,  or  slept  on  the  grass  in  the  open  air.  Streets  were  filled 
with  blinding  dust,  and  heated  like  furnaces  by  the  July  sun ; 
gambling  and  drinking  booths  stood  upon  every  corner :  reeking 
odors  poisoned  the  air,  and  a  new  Coleridge  might  have  sung  of 
this  mushroom  Cologne : 

4  In  Colin,  a  town  of  monks  and  bones, 
And  pavements  fanged  with  murderous  stones, 
And  rags,  and  hags,  and  hideous  wenches, 
I  counted  five  and  seventy  stenches,' 


72  BORDER    RUFFIAN    COURTS    OF    JUSTICE.      [1857. 

The  public  temper  was  very  inflammable  and  kindled  like  gun 
powder  from  the  faintest  spark.  The  Pro-slavery  party  claimed 
to  be  distinctively  '  Law-and-order  men,'  but  their  courts  of  jus 
tice  were  the  most  dangerous  places  in  the  whole  Territory. 
Scores  of  murders  had  been  committed,  but  no  one  had  ever  been 
punished  for  any  crime  against  a  Free  State  citizen. 

At  Tecumseh,  Boynton,  an  inoffensive  Free  Soiler,  surrounded 
by  Pro-slavery  neighbors  who  were  trying  to  drive  him  from  his 
claim,  brought  suit  against  one  Adams,  who  had  thrice  attempted 
to  shoot  him.  The  United  States  commissioner  merely  held  loth 


parties  to  five-hundred-dollar  bonds  to  keep  the  peace.  During  the 
investigation  Newsorn,  Territorial  prosecuting  attorney  elected 
by  the  bogus  legislature,  denounced  Boynton  as  a  d — d  liar. 


1857.]  A    QUASI    DECLAKATION    OF    WAR.  73 

After  the  court  adjourned,  Boynton  asked  an  explanation,  when 
the  official  repeated  the  epithet,  and  struck  him  upon  the  head  with 
a  bowie  knife,  cutting  a  gash  three  inches  long.  This  fired  even 
the  man  of  peace,  and  he  responded  with  his  clinched  fist,  which 
sent  Newsom  reeling  through  an  open  door  into  an  adjoining  office. 
The  bystanders,  including  Adams,  upon  whose  bond  to  keep  the 
peace  the  ink  had  not  yet  dried,  drew  their  revolvers ;  but  Boyn 
ton  flying  the  court-room,  escaped  their  bullets  and  found  refuge 
in  Lawrence. 

The  previous  spring's  immigration,  almost  exclusively  from  the 
North,  had  given  the  Free  Soilers  large  numerical  ascendency. 
Now  they  began  to  stand  boldly  upon  their  rights  and  defy  Mis 
souri.  Their  July  Territorial  convention  passed  a  quiet,  but 
significant  resolution : 

Whereas,  preparations  are  being  made  in  Missouri  to  control  the  coming  Kansas 
elections ; — 

Resolved,  That  this  convention  appoints  and  authorizes  General  James  H.  Lane,  to 
organize  the  people  in  the  several  districts,  to  protect  the  ballot-boxes. 

After  this  quasi  declaration  of  war  there  were  no  further  inva 
sions. 

Osawkee  was  a  Pro-slavery  town.  One  day  during  the  land 
sales,  Governor  Walker,  Secretary  Stanton  of  Tennessee,  and  other 
'National  Democrats,'  made  political  speeches.  When  they  had 
finished,  the  Free  Soilers  present  called  out  one  of  their  own  num 
ber,  Charles  Foster  of  Osawatomie.  In  a  fiery  address  he  urged 
that  under  the  rule  of  the  same  National  Democracy  which  was 
now  willing  to  bring  Kansas  into  the  Union  even  as  a  free  State, 
their  property  had  been  destroyed,  their  homes  invaded,  and  their 
soil  drenched  with  innocent  blood. 

Some  of  his  hearers  hissed !  others  shouted :  '  Knock  him  down  I' 
'  Out  with  him !' 

Instantly  twenty  cocked  revolvers  were  displayed  by  his  friends 
around  the  stand,  and  he  was  permitted  to  go  on. 

Frequently  while  riding  in  the  vicinity  of  Osawkee,  I  encoun 
tered  the  original  owners  of  the  soil,  jogging  along  on  horseback, 
sometimes  sober  and  reticent,  but  often  whisky-inspired  and  up 
roarious.  The  squaws  usually  rode  in  couples,  with  papooses 


74 


TREASON    TO    BE    PUT    DOWN. 


[1857. 


INDIANS    TI!AVELTN( 


strapped  on  their  backs,  and  older  children  astride  before  and  be. 
hind  them.  Nearly  all  the  Kansas .  Indians  lived  in  log-cabins, 
and  made  some  pretenses  to  civilization;  so  they  were  less  migra 
tory  than  their  race  in  general.  But  sometimes  they  sought  fresh 
fields  and  pastures  new,  or  were  joined  by  immigrants  and  visitors 
from  Texas  and  the  Cherokee  nation.  These  bedouins  of  the  prai 
rie  invariably  car 
ried  their  lodges 
with  them,  the 
buffalo  robes  roll 
ed  and  strapped  to 
poles,  attached  to 
the  ponies  like 
wagon  shafts  at 
one  end,  and  drag 
ging  upon  the 
ground  at  the 
other.  Papooses 
were  suspended 

between  the  poles,  and  seemed  to  enjoy  journeying  by  this  nidi- 
mental  *  one  boss  shay.' 

My  stay  in  Osawkee,  was  cut  short  by  a  fresh  excitement.  The 
Lawrence  people,  without  authority  from  the  bogus  laws,  had 
formed  a  municipal  organization,  electing  a  mayor,  alderman,  and 
other  city  officers.  It  was  a  movement  common  in  new  coun 
tries,  and  chiefly  designed  to  impose  and  collect  taxes  for  removing 
offal,  grading  streets,  and  protecting  the  public  health.  But 
Governor  Walker,  great  in  his  new-fledged  dignity,  thought  it  part 
of  a  universal  plan  for  organizing  the  nascent  State,  and  put 
ting  the  Topeka  government  in  force.  He  held  it  treason  and 
grim-visaged  war.  In  a  flaming  proclamation  he  declared : 

'A  rebellion  so  iniquitous,  and  necessarily  involving  such  awful  consequences,  has 
never  before  disgraced  any  age  or  country  !' 

He  marched  three  hundred  Federal  soldiers  from  Fort  Leaven- 
worth  upon  Lawrence ;  and  it  was  even  thought  that  the  little  city 
would  be  a  second  time  destroyed  for  the  crime  of  Free  State 
sentiments. 


1857.]  FALLACY    OF    HUMAN    TESTIMONY.  75 

At  this  perturbed  and  expectant  moment,  late  one  Saturday 
night,  a  breathless  messenger  reached  Osawkee.  He  asserted, 
with  minutest  particulars,  that  he  was  just  from  Lawrence,  which 
Walker's  troops  had  begun  to  bombard,  and  that  he  left  the  city 
wrapped  in  flames.  What  did  I  in  the  North  when  I  should  serve 
my  employer  in  the  South  ?  With  several  friends  I  started  for  the 
new  seat  of  war,  thirty  miles  away,  expecting  to  find  the  town  in 
ashes. 

After  a  hard  night's  ride,  we  came  in  sight  of  it,  just  as  the  sun 
was  rising.  It  was  very  unlike  smoldering  ruins.  Not  a  gun 
had  been  fired,  a  building  disturbed,  or  a  man  arrested.  There 
stood  the  city  in  the  light  of  that  Sabbath  morning,  calm  and 
peaceful  as  any  hamlet  in  the  world.  A  mile  west,  on  the  prairie, 
gleamed  white  tents  of  the  encamped  soldiers,  with  sentinels  pa 
cing  to  and  fro;  and  that  was  the  sole  foundation  for  the  story. 
Our  messenger  had  somewhere  heard  the  rumor  which  he  repeated 
as  a  fact  of  his  own  observation.  To  me  it  was  a  valuable  lesson. 
Again,  and  again,  during  the  great  civil  war,  that  experience 
saved  me  from  being  misled.  All  army  correspondents  learned 
sooner  or  later  that  strong  excitements  breed  rumors  as  great 
swamps  breed  mosquitoes;  that  most  human  testimony  is  utterly 
untrustworthy  ;  that  one  can  believe  only  the  evidence  of  his  own 
senses,  and  those  persons  in  whose  truthfulness  he  places  abso 
lute  confidence.  Every  day,  in  courts  of  justice,  honest  and  intel 
ligent  sworn  witnesses  contradict  each  others'  statements  in  the 
most  positive  manner.  In  a  company  of  a  dozen,  it  is  an  interest 
ing  experiment  to  whisper  the  details  of  some  simple  bit  of  news 
in  fifty  words  to  one's  next  neighbor.  Thus  let  it  pass  around 
the  circle;  then  request  the  last  recipient  to  repeat  it;  and  the 
innocent  little  morsel  that  was  sent  forth  on  its  tour,  will  scarcely 
retain  an  infinitesimal  part  of  its  identity. 

Governor  Walker's  blunder  was  more  fatal  than  a  crime.  There 
was  nobody  to  arrest,  for  no  overt  act  had  been  committed ;  and 
there  was  nobody  to  fight,  for  nobody  had  taken  up  arms.  The 
Kansas  people  who  held  Federal  governors  their  natural  enemies, 
enjoyed  the  rupture  amazingly.  According  to  Emerson's  test,  they 
were  the  best  orators,  for  they  could  call  the  most  nicknames. 
The  two  or  three  feeble  Border  Euffian  papers  yet  surviving, 


76          GOVERNOR    EXTINGUISHED    BY    RIDICULE.    [1857. 

made  faint  and  doubtful  essays  in  favor  of  their  weak  champion. 
The  Free  State  journals  flushed  with  new-born  strength,  abounded 
in  droll  chronicles  of  '  the  siege  of  Lawrence/  and  the  great  '  iso 
thermal  war.'  Wags  issued  solemn  burlesque  proclamations  de 
claring  it  high  treason,  punishable  with  death,  to  grade  streets  or 
remove  dead  cats  from  the  gutters.  In  a  public  meeting,  the  peo 
ple  resolved  to  receive  no  communication  from  the  governor,  un 
less  made  through  their  newly  elected  mayor.  Walker  had 
sown  dragons'  teeth,  and  he  reaped  armed  men.  Half  a  dozen 
communities,  which  had  never  thought  of  it  before,  (one  em 
bracing  the  very  land  upon  which  the  troops  were  encamped,) 
immediately  imitated  Lawrence,  and  elected  municipal  officers. 
A  committee  from  one  of  these  towns  consulted  the  governor 
upon  their  movement.  He  replied : 

'Go  on  gentlemen — if  you  wish  to  fight  the  entire  army  of  the 
United  States.' 

The  entire  army  of  the  United  States  is  strong,  but  not  strong 
enough  to  defend  a  man  against  ridicule.  Destiny  in  the  form  of 
the  Lawrence  Yankees  was  too  much  for  his  excellency.  Tired 
of  an  unequal  contest  which  had  made  him  the  laughing-stock 
alike  of  the  Territory  and  the  entire  North,  he  imitated  the  his 
toric  Charles  who, 

'With  twenty  thousand  men, 
Marched  up  a  hillr  and  then — marched  down  again. 


1857  ]  WILD    FRUITS    OF    THE    PRAIRIES.  77 


CHAPTER    VI. 

IN  August  I  became  a  squatter,  and  made  l  a  claim.'  This  is 
the  frontier  term  for  the  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  which  the 
real  or  constructive  settler  '  improves '  and  claims  for  his  future 
home.  Only  after  preemption  and  a  perfect  title  from  the  Gov 
ernment,  is  it  called  his  farm. 

With  several  companions  whose  eyes  were  dazzled  by  visions  of 
landed  proprietorship,  I  started  from  Quindaro  on  a  tour  through 
the  unsettled  county  of  Johnson,  one  of  the  fairest  and  richest 
regions  of  Kansas.  In  the  belt  of  deep  woods  eight  or  ten  "miles 
wide  along  the  Missouri,  the  summer  tints  were  of  wonderful 
beauty  and  variety.  Purple  wild  plums  of  delicate  flavor,  half 
the  size  of  apples,  abounded ;  from  tree  and  bush  hung  vines 
heavy  with  ripening  grapes,  not  larger  than  peas,  but  plump, 
palatable,  and  much  used  in  cooking;  wild  cherries  and  crab 
apples  grew  in  profusion ;  and  the  thickets  bent  under  heavy 
loads  of  elder-berries,  of  which  a  bushel  could  be  gathered  in  a 
few  minutes.  They  lack  pungency,  but  in  the  absence  of  other 
fruits  frontier  housewives  convert  them  into  tasteless  preserves 
and  insipid  pies. 

Crossing  the  Kansas,  we  reached  the  prairies  and  left  the  woods 
behind.  Here  and  there  were  scattered  trees  along  the  far-apart 
streams ;  but  they  were  like  angel  visits.  This  lack  of  timber  was 
the  most  serious  drawback  of  pioneers;  yet  the  farmer  would 
far  better  settle  where  he  must  go  twenty-five  miles  for  house  and 
fence  lumber  and  firewood,  than  where  he  must  clear  away  for 
ests  to  make  room  for  his  corn  and  grass  fields.  The  latter  is  the 
work  of  one  or  two  generations ;  but  in  this  rich  Kansas  soil  the 
locust  grows  like  Jonah's  gourd,  and  the  cotton  wood  attains  a 
trunk-diameter  of  five  or  six  inches  in  six  years.  Its  feathery 

6 


78 


AN  EMIGRANT  FAMILY  IN  CAMP. 


[1857, 


seed  floats  on  the  wind  and  takes  root  in  plowed  fields  miles 
away  from  the  mother  tree. 

Toward   evening   we   passed   several    parties    of   immigrants, 
chiefly  from  Missouri.     Come  to  this  encampment,  and  see  how 


A   FAMILY   ENCAMPMENT. 


kindly  frontier  families  take  to  a  roving  life.  The  long,  heavy 
wagon,  its  roof  covered  with  white  cotton  cloth,  stands  a  few 
yards  from  the  road.  It  is  packed  with  provisions  and  household 
utensils;  and  two  or  three  pots  and  kettles  are  suspended  from  the 
hind  axle.  The  tired  oxen  graze  upon  the  neighboring  prairie. 
The  white-haired  children  are  playing  hard  by — five  or  six  in 
"number,  for  these  new  countries  are  marvelously  prolific.  The 
husband  is  milking  the  patient  cows,  the  wife  is  preparing  a 
supper  of  griddle-cakes  bacon  and  coffee  in  the  open  air,  at  the 
camp  stove,  the  hens  are  cackling  socially  from  their  coop,  while 
the  old  family  dog  wags  his  tail  approvingly,  but  watches  with 
solicitous  care  the  baby  creeping  about  the  wagon. 


1867.]     RAIN    INCREASING    WITH    CIVILIZATION.  79 

When  crossing  the  great  deserts  to  Utah  or  California  they  toil 
wearily  along  from  twelve  to  twenty  miles  per  day.  The  long- 
bearded,  shaggy  drivers,  tanned  to  the  hue  of  Arapahoes,  look 
like  animated  pillars  of  earth,  and  seem  under  the  perpetual  sen 
tence  :  *  Dust  thou  art  and  unto  dust  shalt  thou  return.'  Each 
keeps  his  trusty  rifle  or  shot-gun  within  grasp ;  and  at  night  the 
wagons  are  parked  in  a  circle,  and  the  cattle  driven  into  the 
extemporized  yard  which  they  inclose,  as  a  protection  against 
Indian  surprises.  Eternal  vigilance  is  the  price  of  travel.  The 
children  of  the  immigrants  revel  in  dirt  and  novelty,  but  their 
mothers  cast  eager  longing  eyes  toward  their  new  homes.  There 
is  profound  truth  in  the  remark  that 'plains-travel  and  frontier 
life  are  peculiarly  severe  upon  women  and  oxen.' 

We  found  the  prairies  robed  in  emerald  green,  and  lit  up  with 
the  gorgeous  flowers  of  late  summer.  The  wealth  of  the  soil 
appeared  inexhaustible.  Where  the  spring  streams  had  cut  into 
it  for  thirty  feet,  the  ravines  displayed  rich  alluvium,  black  asjet, 
down  to  the  bottom.  It  seemed  as  if  no  soundings  could  pene 
trate  beneath  it.  It  is  like  those  rich  bottom-lands  along  the 
Muskingum  and  Miami  rivers  of  Ohio,  which  without  the  appli 
cation  of  any  fertilizing  substance,  have  produced  corn  every 
season  for  half  a  century,  and  still  yield  fifty  or  sixty  bushels  to 
the  acre.  The  grass  was  a  miniature  forest.  In  some  of  the  wet 
lowlands  it  rose  above  our  heads  and  completely  hid  us  from 
each  other,  when  a  few  yards  apart,  though  we  were  mounted  on 
tall  steeds. 

There  is  a  curious  logical  connection  between  civilization  and 
rain.  All  along  the  frontier,  Indians  declare  that  the  white  man 
brings  rain  with  him.  Thirty  years  ago,  Missourians  living  on 
the  opposite  bank  of  the  river  thought  the  soil  of  Kansas  good  for 
nothing  on  account  of  its  rainless  climate.  Since  the  young  State 
was  settled,  it  has  suffered  only  twice  from  dry  seasons,  and  of 
late  good  crops  and  increasing  rains  have  dispelled  all  appre 
hensions. 

Now,  however,  we  found  the  weather  intensely  hot,  and  the 
high  prairies  parched  with  drowth.  Hour  after  hour  we  jour 
neyed  under  the  scorching  sun,  discovering  neither  shade  nor 
water.  Several  of  my  comrades  suffered  intensely  from  thirst. 


80  A    SHREWD    SPECULATOR    Iff    LUMBER.         [185T. 

Their  tongues  became  swollen,  and  their  lips  cracked,  until  the 
blood  ran  from  them.  At  last  we  espied  in  the  distance  a  feeble 
willow,  sure  indication  of  moisture.  Spurring  thither  our  jaded 
horses,  we  found  a  pool  of  stagnant  water.  The  surface  was 
covered  with  green  scum,  and  as  I  lay  down  to  drink,  a  slug 
gish  lizzard  crawled  in  from  the  bank.  But  necessity  knows  no 
scruples,  and  the  famishing  never  criticise.  Every  mouthful  of 
that  jelly-like  fluid  was  flavored  with  fever-and-ague ;  yet  my 
long  draught  was  the  sweetest  I  had  ever  tasted. 

We  found  hundreds  of  claims  already  taken,  chiefly  by  Mis- 
sourians,  who  had  visited  them  once,  and  made  '  improvements ' 
— inclosing  a  little  square  with  four  logs  or  rails  laid  upon 
the  ground.  Yet  in  riding  twenty-five  miles  we  saw  but  one 
occupied  dwelling.  We  were  truly  on  the  outer  verge  of  civil 
ization. 

We  selected  and  staked  our  quarter-sections,  and  after  returning 
to  Quindaro,  sent  out  boards  and  had  a  cabin  erected  upon  each. 
But  a  few  weeks  later  when  we  went  back  to  look  at  our  '  dwell 
ings,'  some  enterprising  scoundrel  had  carried  away  every  one  of 
them !  He  did  not  leave  a  single  board,  rafter,  or  splinter.  Not 
withstanding  the  forty  dollars  which  his  cupidity  cost  me,  I 
have  profound  respect  for  that  shrewd  speculator  who  not  only 
obtained  so  much  valuable  lumber  for  nothing,  but  found  it 
already  delivered  thirty  miles  in  the  interior,  when  the  expenses 
of  hauling  were  enormous.  It  must  have  enabled  him  to  build  a 
palatial  mansion ;  but  my  experience  was  a  ludicrous  satire  upon 
the  ancient  legal  fiction  that  every  man's  house  is  his  castle. 

From  such  a  school  must  have  graduated  the th  Kansas 

Infantry  which  acquired  rare  reputation  for  plundering  during 
the  great  rebellion.  A  number  of  Kansas  regiments  marching 
through  Missouri,  revenged  themselves  upon  their  old  enemies; 
but  this  had  unapproachable  genius  for  plunder,  which  the  camp 
stories  used  to  illustrate  with  genuine  American  exaggeration. 
One  of  them  ran  thus :  In  an  Arkansas  campaign  a  general  officer 

found  the  entire th  grouped  around  a  saw-mill  and  weeping 

like  Niobes. 

1  Why,  boys,'  he  asked,  *  what  is  the  matter?' 
Matter  enough !'  sobbed  one  enterprising  volunteer.     ( Thus 


1857.]  WITHIN    PRISON    WALLS.  81 

far  we  have  never  left  any  thing  behind  us ;  but  we  can't  possibly 
steal  this  saw-mill !' 

In  August  I  attended  the  trial  of  Governor  Charles  Robinson  at 
Lecompton.  The  Border  Kuffian  capital,  in  a  rough  little 
hollow,  was  composed  of  few  dwelling-houses,  many  land-offices, 
and  multitudinous  whisky  saloons.  Free  State  friends  pointed 
out  to  me  the  building  where  they  were  confined  as  prisoners 
during  the  early  troubles.  In  close,  filthy  quarters,  and  covered 
with  vermin,  they  spent  many  weeks,  not  only  cheerfully,  but 
often  in  a  state  of  absolute  hilarity.  It  seemed  incredible  ;  for  I 
had  not  then  learned  how  much  contentment  depends  upon 
temperament,  and  how  little  upon  the  externals  of  life.  Years 
later,  I  noted  the  same  fact  in  rebel  prisons.  The  feelings  of  men  in 
those  dens  of  misery,  shut  out  from  all  the  comforts  of  life,  and 
with  suffering  and  death  constantly  before  their  eyes,  did  not 
differ  materially  from  their  feelings  after  they  were  restored  to 
liberty.  Indeed,  a  friend  declares  in  all  sincerity  that  the  two 
years  he  spent  in  their  scenes  of  horror  were  the  most  cheerful  of 
his  life.  Doubt] ess,  love  for  the  cause  in  which  he  suffered,  and 
unshaken  faith  in  its  triumph,  account  for  some  of  his  fortitude. 

The  world  owes  much  to  her  prisons.  They  have  been  store 
houses  in  whose  safe  keeping  ripened  seeds  which  have  borne  a 
plentiful  harvest.  How  often  have  they  given  back  blessings  to 
the  hand  of  tyranny,  and  lavished  upon  ungrateful  ears  music, 
which  the  following  generations  caught  up  to  bear  along  in 
triumph!  Chambers  of  royalty,  they  have  held  enthroned  our 
sages  and  singers.  There  sat  Socrates  and  Bacon,  Raleigh  and 
More  and  Tasso.  There  Marco  Polo  recorded  his  strange,  roman 
tic  story.  There  brilliant,  tireless  Defoe  edited  his  semi-weekly 
Review,  forerunner  of  the  modern  newspaper.  There  Cervantes 
commemorated  the  immortal  Quixote.  There  John  Bunyan  opened 
that  well  of  living  water, 

'Whose  drops 

Of  cool  refreshment  drained  by  fevered  lips, 
May  give  a  shock  of  pleasure  to  the  soul, 
More  exquisite  than  when  nectarean  juioe 
Renews  the  life  of  happiest  hours.' 


82  LAST    TREASON    TKIAL    IN    KANSAS.  [1857. 

The  United  States  district  court  at  Lecompton  was  held  in  a 
rude  apartment,  furnished  with  three  tables,  two  chairs,  and  half- 
a-dozen  planks  for  seats,  resting  upon  blocks,  stones,  and  boxes. 
Judge  Cato  was  an  avowed  disunionist  of  the  South  Carolina 
school.  Tall  and  thin,  with  closely-shaven  face,  and  overgrown 
moustache,  he  wore  the  ermine  carelessly,  studied  the  Charleston 
Mercury  intently  through  his  heavy  gold  spectacles,  and  gave  only 
an  occasional  glance  at  the  business  before  him.  Wier,  the  dis 
trict  attorney,  stout,  florid,  and  red-whiskered,  sat  on  a  table 
with  his  feet  elevated  upon  the  stove.  The  lookers-on  exhibited 
every  variety  of  dress  and  physiognomy.  Kobinson  was  charged 
with  usurpation  of  office.  He  admitted  his  election  as  governor 
under  the  Topeka  State  constitution,  his  issuing  messages  to  the 
State  legislature,  approval  of  its  enactments,  and  other  gubernato 
rial  functions.  But  the  witnesses  swore  that  this  action  was  only 
preparatory  ;  that  it  had  never  been  the  intention  to  put  the  gov 
ernment  in  force,  until  Kansas  should  become  a  State  in  the  Fed 
eral  Union.  This  was  not  quite  true.  Nearly  all  the  Free  State 
men  had  designed  to  set  the  Topeka  government  in  motion  and 
support  it  by  force  of  arms,  whenever  the  Border  Euffian  Terri 
torial  authorities  should  drive  them  to  the  wall. 

The  judge  was  overbearing  and  violent;  but  Eobinson's  coun 
sel,  confident  that  the  Pro -slavery  rule  was  nearly  ended,  faced 
him  boldly,  objected  to  some  of  the  jurors  as  vagabonds  and 
notorious  partisans,  and  took  exceptions  to  nearly  all  his  rulings. 
Even  the  prosecuting  attorney,  from  long  habit  repeatedly  spoke 
of  the  prisoner  as  *  Governor '  Eobinson,  though  always  quickly 
changing  it  to  'Doctor'  Eobinson. 

In  summing  up,  the  court  charged  the  jury  that  if  they  found 
Robinson  had  assumed  to  be  governor  of  the  State  of  Kansas, 
(which  then  existed  only  in  name  and  not  at  all  in  law  or  in  fact,) 
they  must  find  him  guilty  as  charged  by  the  indictment,  of  usurp 
ing  the  office  of  governor  of  the  Territory  of  Kansas ! 

After  two  hours  absence  the  jurors  re-appeared  and  asked  that 
the  case  might  be  re-opened,  and  one  witness  re-examined,  as  they 
had  forgotten  his  testimony!  Even  Cato  refused  to  do  this;  and 
soon  after  they  returned  a  verdict  of  Not  Guilty.  Thus  ended 
the  last  treason  trial  in  Kansas. 


1857.] 


TRAVELING    TO    A    CONVENTION, 


83 


A  few  days  later,  a  Territorial  Free  State  convention  was  held 
at  Grasshopper  Falls.  Going  thither  with  two  friends,  I  journeyed 
for  hours  on  the  Delaware  Indian  reservation,  fifteen  miles  by 
forty.  Its  richness  and  beauty  showed  Kansas  a  country  worth 


84  SIEGE    OF    HICKOKY    POINT.  [1857 

struggling  for.  There  are  many  old  lake  beds,  basins  scooped 
out  of  the  prairie.  Around  their  shores  runs  a  well  defined  stra 
tum  of  limestone,  like  an  artificial  wall ;  and  for  miles  a  similar 
line  girdles  the  isolated  hills,  suggesting  that  they  were  islands 
before  the  waters  were  gathered  into  one  place  and  dry  land 
appeared.  But  geologists  decide  that  these  seemingly  ancient 
water-marks  are  only  limestone  strata  which  lie  evenly  in  all  the 
bluffs. 

Our  road  was  an  obscure  track  in  the  prairie  grass.  We  jour 
neyed  on  and  on  until  dark,  and  then  for  hours  afterward,  finding 
no  traces  of  human  life.  Late  in  the  night  we  met  four  Indians 
on  horseback,  of  whom  we  inquired  the  distance  to  Oskaloosa. 
They  replied  in  pure  English,  that  they  knew  no  such  town ;  cer 
tainly  it  was  not  in  that  vicinity  ;  the  nearest  white  settlement  was 
ten  miles  distant  upon  the  Kaw  river. 

In  spite  of  the  Indian  fondness  for  romance,  their  seeming  intel 
ligence  and  honesty  convinced  us  that  we  had  mistaken  the 
way.  So  we  lariated  our  mules  to  graze,  and  slept  soundly  upon 
our  blankets  on  the  ground,  with  the  soft  grass  for  a  pillow,  and 
the  gemmed  sky  for  a  roof. 

In  the  morning  we  woke  to  find  hair  and  beards  dripping  with 
dew ;  but  cold  and  rheumatic  twinges  are  strangers  to  that  pure 
summer  air.  Fifteen  minutes  after  starting  again,  we  were  in 
sight  of  Oskaloosa.  We  had  not  wandered  from  our  road,  but  the 
noble  savage,  true  to  the  instincts  of  his  race,  had  been  fabricating 
falsehoods  out  of  whole  cloth. 

We  breakfasted  at  Hickory  Point,  a  little  group  of  buildings 
besieged  and  captured  by  Free  State  men  in  1856,  after  several 
had  been  killed  on  both  sides.  One  log  house  still  displayed  huge 
apertures  where  the  shells  had  torn  through  its  thick  walls.  Our 
landlord  of  this  morning  commanded  the  Pro-slavery  garrison 
during  the  skirmish;  and  still  bears  the  scar  where  a  rifle  ball 
struck  him  as  he  was  taking  a  drink.  This  fire  in  the  rear  spilled 
his  whisky,  and  gave  him  an  ugly  wound.  Yet  he  lived,  not  to 
fight  another  day,  but  to  regale  us  with  an  excellent  meal.  He 
seemed  chatty,  courteous  and  honest. 

The  convention  was  large  and  earnest.  It  elicited  exciting  dis 
cussions  upon  voting  at  the  fall  elections.  Hitherto,  after  being 


1857.]  A    DECLARATION    BY    BUCHANAN.  85 

repeatedly  overpowered  by  Missouri  invasions,  the  Free  Soilers 
had  absented  themselves  from  the  polls,  believing  that  the  Border 
Ruffians,  who  held  all  the  machinery  of  government,  would  cer- 


A   FIRE  IN  THE   REAR. 


tainly  defeat  them  by  force  or  fraud.  Now  the  Free  State  men 
held  an  immense  numerical  majority.  But  to  vote  on  the  day 
and  in  the  manner  prescribed  by  the  illegal  and  invading  legisla 
ture  seemed  to  give  a  kind  of  recognition  to  the  bogus  laws.  Ad 
vices  from  Washington  had  just  assured  them  of  President  Bu 
chanan's  design  'with  the  help  of  God,'  to  enforce  those  statutes. 
They  were  fully  determined  to  resist  them  to  the  last.  The  ap 
portionment  too  was  notoriously  unfair.  The  old  Pro-slavery 
counties  were  given  an  enormous  excess  of  representation,  while 
a  Free  State  section  of  twenty  counties  comprising  almost  half 
the  population  of  the  Territory,  was  entitled  to  only  three  out  of 
fifty-two  members  of  the  legislature. 

But  Governor  Walker  had  promised  that  the  test  oath  should 
not  be  enforced,  and  that  he  would  insure  them  a  fair  election. 
Many,  distrusting  him,  earnestly  opposed  voting.  Others  advo- 


86  THE    BALLOT    OR    THE    RIFLE.  [1857. 

cated  it  as  a  stratagem :  to  beat  the  enemy  at  his  own  game ;  to 
get  possession  of  the  Territorial  government,  at  all  hazards.  Theii 
counsels  prevailed ;  it  was  decided  to  vote.  Lane  declared : 

'The  Territorial  legislature  belongs  to  us,  and  we  are  going  to 
have  it — by  the  ballot  if  we  can,  by  the  rifle  if  we  must.  If  we 
elect  only  one  member  we  intend  to  make  him  a  good  working 
majority.' 

The  fall  canvass  was  exciting.  Pro-slavery  men  confidently 
asserted  that  they  should  triumph — which  meant  either  invasion 
or  fraud.  The  Free  Soilers  organized  and  went  armed  to  the 
polls. 

In  Quindaro,  when  the  voting  was  over  and  before  the  general 
result  was  known,  public  feeling  was  painfully  wrought  up.  It 
was.  like  the  choking  anxiety  in  a  court-room,  after  an  absorbing 
trial,  while  prisoner  and  foreman  stand  up  face  to  face,  and  all 
wait  breathless  for  the  verdict.  First  came  a  report  that  the 
Territory  was  so  closely  divided,  that  Leavenworth,  the  most  pop 
ulous  county  and  electing  eleven  members,  would  decide  the 
character  of  the  legislature.  At  the  heels  of  this  followed  another 
rumor,  that  through  gross  frauds  and  hundreds  of  illegal  votes  at 
the  little  precinct  of  Kickapoo,  Leavenworth  county  had  elected 
the  Pro-slavery  ticket ;  and  that  Governor  Walker  had  given  cer 
tificates  to  the  candidates  fraudulently  chosen,  thus  retaining  the 
government  in  Border  Ruffian  hands  for  two  years  more. 

In  the  midst  of  the  indignation  this  caused,  his  excellency  paid 
Quindaro  a  visit.  Within  half  an  hour  after  his  arrival,  a  gray- 
haired  citizen,  who,  until  then,  had  always  borne  the  reputation  of 
a  Conservative,  took  me  aside,  and  said  with  flashing  eyes : 

1  We  shall  never  get  our  rights  peaceably.  Walker  persuaded 
us  to  vote  with  fair  promises ;  and  now  he  has  betrayed  us.  Here 
he  is ;  let  us  make  an  example  of  him,  and  teach  old  Buchanan 
that  we  are  in  earnest.  The  boys  are  all  ready.' 

'Beady  for  what?' 

1  Eeady  to  take  him  out  of  the  hotel,  and  hang  him  upon  that 
tree  !'  was  the  startling  reply. 

My  fiery  friend  finally  acquiesced  in  the  suggestion  that  we 
should  wait  to  verify  the  reports.  The  event  proved  that  Walker 
had  given  certificates  to  the  fraudulently-chosen  delegation..  But 


1857.]       RUPTURE    IN    THE    DEMOCRATIC    PARTY  87 

there  was  a  large  Free  State  majority  in  the  legislature,  which 
turned  out  the  spurious  members  during  the  first  week  of  its  ses 
sion.  And  thus  the  Territorial  government  passed  into  the  hands 
of  the  bona  fide  settlers. 

But  the  end  was  not  yet.  During  the  previous  summer  a  Pro- 
slavery  convention  to  form  a  State  constitution  had  been  held  at 
Lecornpton.  The  act  of  the  bogus  legislature  authorizing  it  dis 
qualified  all  but  registered  voters  from  participating  in  the  election 
of  delegates.  In  half  the  counties  no  registry  was  made  ;  in  others 
the  Free  State  men  were  not  registered,  and  they  staid  away  from 
the  polls.  They  would  have  dispersed  the  convention  by  force  of 
arms  but  for  Governor  Walker's  emphatic  assurances  that  he 
would  oppose  any  constitution  it  formed,  unless  submitted  to  a 
vote  of  the  people,  and  that  President  Buchanan  had  solemnly 
promised  him  to  take  the  same  course.  So  they  quietly  ignored 
the  gathering,  intending  to  repudiate  its  offspring  at  the  polls. 

But  the  convention  did  not  submit  to  the  people  for  ratification 
the  constitution  which  it  made.  Buchanan,  infamously  violating 
his  plighted  faith,  urged  Congress  to  admit  Kansas  as  a  slave 
State  under  this  fraudulent  instrument  adopted  by  a  minority  of 
the  voters  in  less  than  half  the  counties  of  the  Territory.  He  even 
used  the  patronage  of  his  high  office  to  induce  senators  and  repre 
sentatives  to  join  in  the  outrage.  Governor  Walker  kept  his 
pledges,  arid  Buchanan  remorselessly  dismissed  him.  Senator 
Douglas,  too,  broke  away  from  his  life-long  political  associates, 
and  stood  firm  against  this  outrage  upon  the  rights  of  the  settlers, 
declaring  that  if  it  was  persisted  in  they  ought  to  resist,  even  to 
fighting  the  Government  of  the  United  States.  Thus  began  that 
rupture  in  the  democratic  party  which  resulted  in  the  election  of 
Abraham  Lincoln  and  the  southern  rebellion ;  and  thus  the  Le- 
compton  convention  has  a  national  and  historic  interest. 

In  Kansas  the  attempt  to  thrust  it  upon  the  people  kindled  hot 
resentment.  Several  assassinations  ensued,  and  in  south-eastern 
counties  along  the  Missouri  border  frequent  and  bloody  skirmishes 
occurred.  At  Territorial  conventions  all  the  delegates,  in  writing, 
pledged  their  lives  their  fortunes  and  their  sacred  honor  to  resist 
the  usurpation,  even  by  force  of  arms.  Ordinarily  the  Free  Soilers 
were  divided  into  cliques  and  factions,  but  this  pressure  com 
pacted  them  into  concord  and  forgetfulness  of  old  feuds. 


88  FIFTEEN    WHISKY    PUNCHES.  [1857. 

The  legislature  held  an  extra  session,  passed,  over  the  govern 
or's  veto,  an  act  for  organizing  and  enrolling  the  entire  popula 
tion  capable  of  bearing  arms,  and  elected  a  military  board,  consist 
ing  of  one  major-general,  (Lane,)  eight  brigadiers,  and  adjutant,  in 
spector,  quartermaster,  commissary  and  surgeon-general.  I  knew 
no  more  of  military  matters  than  of  Sanskrit ;  but  the  greatness 
thrust  upon  me  converted  me  into  assistant  adjutant-general  and 
secretary  of  the  board. 

That  body  meant  business  ;  but  its  paraphernalia  was  not  gor 
geous.  Indeed  it  looked'  a  good  deal  like  the  Arizona  legislature, 
which  used  to  meet  in  a  log-cabin  with  a  dirt  floor.  Our  sessions 
were  held  in  a  Lawrence  hall  over  the  '  Commercial'  restaurant. 
The  members  lived  in  widely  separated  portions  of  the  Territory. 
Chilled  with  long  winter  rides,  they  would  enter,  in  slouched 
hats,  top  boots  and  blue  army  overcoats  with  enormous  capes ; 
crowd  around  the  stove,  and  canvass  the  latest  news  or  rumor  of 
disturbance.  No  inferior  rank  was  tolerated ;  every  man  was  a 
general.  At  the  appointed  hour  Lane,  ex-officio  president,  would 
rap  on  the  table  and  command  in  his  hoarse  gutturals : 

1  The  board  will  come  to  order.' 

Then  he  pulled  at  the  bell-rope  until  a  waiter  appeared. 

1  John,  bring  us  one,  two,  three,  four,'  (counting  the  members 
present,)  '  fourteen  hot  whisky  punches  and  a  box  of  cigars.  Ah ! 
John,  fifteen  hot  whiskies.  General  Walker,  you  are  just  in  time. 
General  Kichardson,  you  will  read  the  minutes  of  the  last  meet- 
ing.' 

The  completion  of  the  reading  found  the  board  warmed  exter 
nally  and  internally  for  the  transaction  of  business.  Under  its 
auspices  organization  and  enrolment  progressed  rapidly.  The  Terri 
torial  governor,  (Denver,)  issued  a  proclamation  against  it ;  but 
proclamations  were  cheap  and  plenty,  and  his  was  unheeded. 
There  were  frequent  rumors  that  he  was  about  to  promote  its 
.leading  members  to  the  honors  of  martyrdom  by  arresting  them ; 
but,  once  begun,  he  could  hardly  have  stopped  without  arresting 
the  whole  population  of  Kansas.  So  he  confined  his  warfare  to 
paper  bullets  of  the  brain. 


1858.]  NIGHT    RIDES    ON    THE    PRAIRIES.  89 


CHAPTER    VII. 

THE  winter  of  1857-8  was  a  stirring  one  for  a  Kansas  news 
paper  correspondent.  Every  week  was  alive  with  excitement — 
an  alarm  to-day,  an  outbreak  to-morrow ;  and  the  point  of  interest 
shifting  so  constantly  kept  one  flying  back  and  forth  like  a  shut 
tlecock  to  meet  it.  I  took  long  prairie  rides,  sometimes  remaining 
all  night  in  the  saddle.  The  nights  were  most  lovely ;  often  so 
bright  that  even  in  the  woods,  and  when  there  was  no  snow  upon 
the  ground,  I  could  easily  read  the  finest  type  of  a  daily  newspaper. 

Sometimes  the  fast-falling  snow  would  obliterate  the  prairie 
roads,  and  clouds  darken  the  sky.  More  than  once  I  wandered 
bewildered  until  daylight,  and  then  found  myself  miles  out  of  the 
proper  course.  The  wind  always  blows :  it  chills  the  whole  frame, 
and  at  times  is  so  violent  that  in  riding  against  it,  one  is  in  dan 
ger  of  being  swept  out  of  the  saddle.  I  frequently  saw  men  so 
chilled  that  after  walking  awhile  to  warm  themselves,  they  had 
to  be  lifted  upon  their  horses. 

Some  of  the  night  rides  were  easy  and  agreeable^peaceful 
hours  passed  in  the  soothing  society  of  nature ;  and  hours,  too,  of 
rest,  for  while  the  horse  walks',  or  even  trots  slowly,  the  practised 
rider  often  sleeps,  until  the  stopping  or  changing  gait  of  his 
steed  awakens  him.  There  is  no  appreciable  danger  of  falling, 
unless  the  horse  stumbles  or  the  saddle  turns.  Mexicans  and  In 
dians  easily  sit  on  horseback  when  so  drunk  that  they  cannot 
stand  upon  the  ground. 

In  equestrianism  men  have  an  easy,  natural  and  safe  position. 
If  women  were  to  adopt  it  instead  of  their  present  tiresome  and 
perilous  mode  of  riding,  the  gain  in  health,  comfort  and  security 
would  be  very  great. 


90 


SEEKING    SHELTER    AMONG    THE    INDIANS.  [1858, 

At  the  end  of  these  nocturnal  journeys  I  often  reached  homo 
with  bloodshot  eyes,  and  every  shred  of  skin  shaven  from  my 
lips  by  the  wind  as  if  by  a  razor.  But  one  or  two  days  always 

restored  me:  for  nature  par 
dons  every  hygienic  sin  in  him 
who  loves  her  free,  health- 
giving  atmosphere.  Hardships 
which  would  prove  fatal  in  cit 
ies,  are  easily  endured  upon 
prairie  or  mountain. 

On  a  dark  December  eve 
ning  I  left  Lawrence  for  Quin- 
daro.  Fifteen  miles  out  on 
the  lonely  road,  the  clouds 
gathered  themselves  into  an 
unbroken  dome  of  black ;  and 
the  darkness  grew  so  dense 
that  I  could  hardly  see  my 
open  hand  two  inches  before 
my  eyes.  Then  the  rain 
poured  in  torrents.  Fortu 
nately  I  was  in  a  little  strip  of 
forest,  where  my  horse  could 
not  leave  the  track  without 
running  against  the  trees.  In 
this  extremity  I  joyfully  de 
tected  lights,  shining  through  the  chinks  of  a  log-cabin.  Biding 
up  and  pushing  open  the  door,  I  was  greeted  with  the  clamor  of 
half  a  dozen  noisy  dogs.  It  was  the  only  dwelling  within  ten 
miles;  and  its  interior  conveyed  a  certain  suggestion  of  comfort. 
I  asked : 

'Can  I  find  lodgings  here  to-night?' 

There  were  three  Indians  upon  stools  around  the  rude  supper 
table.  The  oldest  and  most  stolid  grunted  an  affirmative,  beck 
oned  me  in,  and  sent  one  of  his  companions  to  care  for  my  horse. 
Throwing  off  my  dripping  overcoat,  I  stretched  myself  before 
the  log  fire,  which  from  the  great  hearth  lighted  up  the  whole 
cabin.  It  was  a  single  room,  ten  or  twelve  feet  square.  The 


A   COMFORTABLE    SLUMBER, 


1858.]      A    NIGHT    WITH    A    DELAWARE    FAMILY.  91 

three  men,  dressed  in  coats  and  pantaloons,  had  long  coarse  black 
hair,  sinister  eyes,  and  brooding,  suspicious  countenances.  A 
stout  squaw,  cheery  and  open-faced,  who  wore  zinc  ear-rings  as 
large  as  silver  dollars,  sat  humbly  waiting  for  the  nobler  sex  to 
finish  their  repast.  Crouching  beside  her  was  a  girl  of  eight 
years  also  wearing  the  metallic  ear-rings. 

Before  I  had  completed  this  inventory,  a  vigorous  squall  drew 
my  attention  to  a  distant  corner.  There,  from  a  swinging  ham 
mock,  an  Indian  papoose  of  American  descent  screeched  so  lus 
tily  that  his  dusky  mother  seized  him,  dandled  him  on  her  knee, 
and  soothed  him  with  the  sweetest  baby-talk  of  the  Delaware 
tongue.  He  looked  like  an  infant  mummy.  He  was  on  his 
back,  bandaged  so  tightly  to  a  board  that  he  could  only  scream, 
roll  his  head  and  wink;  but  he  performed  all  these  functions  at 
once  with  miraculous  vehemence.  His  lips  were  at  last  silenced 
by  application  to  '  the  maternal  fount ; '  and  then  he  was  set  up 
against  the  wall  like  a  fire-shovel,  to  inspect  the  company. 

Supper  over,  the  little  girl  filled  and  lighted  an  earthern  pipe 
with  reed  stem  a  foot  long.  Smoking  a  few  whiffs  she  handed  it 
to  her  mother.  That  stolid  matron  finished  it;  and  we  all  sat 
staring  silently  into  the  fire.  The  girl,  true  to  her  sex,  found 
courage  to  scrutinize  my  gold  sleeve-buttons,  watch  and  chain, 
and  every  other  glittering  article  she  could  find  about  me,  greet 
ing  each  with  some  fresh  ejaculation  of  delight.  Then  she  kissed 
the  papoose,  and  crept  to  her  straw  nest  in  another  corner. 
Mine  host  knew  a  few  English  words  and  I  asked  him : 

'  What  is  your  name  ?' 

'Umph.     Four  Miles.7 

1  And  his?1 

1  Umph.     Fall  Leaf.7 

1  And  the  little  girl's?' 

'  0-kee-au-kee.     No  English.7 

And  Four  Miles  was  again  overcome  by  one  of  his  brilliant 
flashes  of  silence. 

At  bed-time,  as  I  unbuckled  my  revolver,  he  glanced  in 
quiringly  toward  it,  took  it  with  nervous  care,  turned  it  over 
and  over,  stared  solemnly  into  the  barrels,  and  then  returned  it. 

*  Umph.     Good.     How  much  ?' 


92  OKIGIN    OF    INDIAN    APPELLATIONS.          [1858. 

'  Twenty  dollars.' 

/And  with  another  grunt,  Four  Miles  relapsed  into  speechless- 
ness. 

My  bed  was  of  plank,  well  covered  with  blankets.  Through 
the  whole  night  I  had  a  dreamy  consciousness  of  shivering;  and 
when  daylight  appeared  I  noticed  the  absence  of  a  log  in  the 
cabin  wall  beside  me,  which  left  an  aperture  sufficiently  large  to 
admit  either  a  man  or  enough  cold  air  to  cover  him.  A  gen 
erous  style  of  ventilation  for  which  I  was  not  adequately  grateful. 

Upon  the  stone  hearth  blazed  a  bright  log  fire,  and  around  it 
were  grouped  the  family,  all  with  colds  in  the  head,  and  all  in 
fearful  contiguity  to  the  open  cooking  utensils.  I  forced  down  a 
few  morsels  of  breakfast;  but  it  was  a  signal  triumph  of  mind 
over  matter.  My  horse  was  brought  to  the  door,  and  I  asked : 

1  How  much?' 

1  CJmph — two  dollars.' 

Which  I  paid  and  departed,  while  the  noble  savage  grunted  a 
friendly  adieu. 

A  few  weeks  later  while  driving  to  Lawrence,  with  my  wife 
and  child,  and  the  wife  and  child  of  a  friend,  another  sudden  and 
violent  storm  compelled  us  all  to  spend  a  night  in  the  same  cabin. 
The  ladies  relished  the  novelty  of  the  experience  but  when 
breakfast  appeared,  no  entreaties  could  induce  them  to  taste  it. 
After  we  reached  our  journey's  end,  they  began  a  vigorous  scru 
tiny  of  the  children's  heads,  which,  judging  from  their  ejacula 
tions  of  horror,  was  not  altogether  barren  of  results. 

Four  Miles  received  his  name  because  he  once  ran  four  miles 
without  stopping. 

Another  Delaware  taken  captive  in  war,  escaped  and  made  a 
long  journey  back  to  his  own  village,  eating  nothing  on  the  way 
but  a  little  loaf  of  corn  bread.  He  was  immediately  re-christened 
*  Journey-cake.'  Several  of  his  descendants  yet  survive  and  bear 
that  family  name,  though  the  white  settlers  corrupt  it  into 
Johnny-cake. 

Years  ago,  in  battle  with  the  whites,  a  Delaware  youth  was 
made  prisoner.  One  day  he  took  up  a  plank  from  the  floor  of  his 
guard-house,  descended  to  the  ground,  and  crept  out  in  the  long 
grass,  eluding  the  sentinel.  Finally,  having  a  fair  start,  he  rose 


1858.]  THE    DELAWARE    BAPTIST    MISSION.  93 

up  to  run.  One  soldier  fired  at  him  without  effect,  and  then 
shouted  to  his  comrades : 

'Catch  him!' 

But  he  was  nimble-footed  and  made  good  his  escape.  He  lived 
to  become  head  chief  of  the  Delawares,  who  gave  to  him  and  his 
children  the  appellation,  'Ketch'm'  or  'Ketchum,'  which  ever 
afterward  they  bore.  In  1857,  overtaken  by  the  pale  Pursuer 
whom  no  swift  foot  outruns,  he  gave  up  the  race,  and  went  to 
dwell  in  the  happy  hunting  grounds. 

Each  of  the  eight  Indian  tribes  in  Kansas  lived  upon  a  *  reser 
vation.'  The  very  word  bears  a  sad  suggestion  of  the  retreating 
and  dwindling  of  their  fading  race.  These  reservations  were 
always  excellent  lands;  consequently  the  Indians  were  driven 
away  whenever  the  white  settlers  coveted  them. 

The  tract  of  the  Delawares,  embracing  some  of  the  richest  por 
tions  of  the  Territory,  was  forty  miles  by  twelve.  This  desert  of 
barbarism  contained  one  oasis  of  civilization — the  generous  dwell 
ings  and  school-house  of  the  Baptist  mission.  In  the  early  days, 
prairie  travelers  would  ride  hard  to  spend  the  night  in  that 
pleasant  and  homelike  retreat.  Rev.  John  G.  Pratt,  who  con 
ducted  the  mission,  had  resided  here  among  the  Indians  for 
twenty  years.  The  little  pupils  of  his  school  illustrated  the  mys 
terious  bleaching  process  of  the  frontier,  by  exhibiting  faces  of 
every  shade  from  aboriginal  brown  to  Saxon  white.  The  teach 
ers  averred  that  they  equaled  white  children  in  intelligence ;  but 
it  was  almost  impossible  to  teach  them  cleanliness  and  truthful 
ness.  In  many  branches  they  were  apathetic  and  stolid,  but  music 
roused  them  wonderfully,  and  it  was  pleasant  to  see  their  eyes 
sparkle  while  they  sang  with  animation  and  zeal.  Among  the 
names  on  the  school  register  were  '  Fall  Leaf,'  '  Black  Stump,' 
'Beaver,'  'Bullet,'  and  the  like,  interspersed  with  Jones,  Brown 
and  Robinson.  One  Delaware  was  called  'Best  Quality,'  and 
another  '  White  Stone.'  How  these  primitive  names  recall  the 
long  roll  in  English  history:  'Ethelred  the  Unready,'  'Flambeau 
the  Firebrand,'  '  Rufus  the  Red,'  '  Richard  of  the  Lion  Heart,'  and 
'  Edward  the  Longshanks !'  How  they  suggest  the  more  familiar 
American  appellations,  'Old  Hickory,'  'Old  Bullion,'  'Rough  and 
Ready,'  '  Martin  the  Fox,'  '  Old  Public  Functionary,'  '  the  Path 
finder,'  '  Little  Giant,'  and  '  Father  Abraham !' 


94  ANOTHER  NIGHT'S  LODGING.  [1858, 

The  Delawares  were  once  the  leading  tribe  on  our  continent,  so 
eminent  for  their  valor  and  wisdom  that  more  humble  Indiana 
styled  them  '  the  Grandfathers.'  They  dominated  other  nations, 
and  treated  with  William  Penn  where  Philadelphia  now  stands. 
For  several  years  the  Baptist  mission  has  been  supported  by  Gov 
ernment.  The  school  contains  ninety  pupils.  Under  the  influ 
ence  of  peace  and  education,  the  Delawares  have  increased  from 
eight  hundred  to  one  thousand  two  hundred  during  Mr.  Pratt's 
residence  among  them.  Now  the  railway  surrounds  them.  A 
few  will  remain  and  become  citizens;  the  rest  migrate  to  the 
Cherokee  country,  south  of  Kansas. 

Evening  once  overtook  me  at  one  of  their  cabins  ten  miles  from 
the  nearest  white  settlement.  Eain  was  falling  fast  and  the  road 
was  a  quagmire,  pf  a  youthful  Missourian  who  stood  in  front  of 
the  dwelling  I  asked : 

'How  far  is  it  to  Sacoxie's?' 

Sacoxie  was  an  old  chief  whose  house  was  popular  among  trav 
elers.  A  pert  young  squaw  standing  beside  the  Missourian,  with 
a  knowing  grunt  held  up  all  the  fingers  of  her  right  hand  and  one 
of  the  left,  while  he  replied : 

'  Six  miles ;  and  awful  roads.  But  you  can  get  good  accommo 
dations  here,  /stop  here.' 

'How  long  have  you  lived  among  the  Indians?' 

'  Three  years.' 

1  Do  you  like  it  ?' 

'Yes, — not  exactly:  but  you  know  a  fellow  likes  best  where  he 
can  do  best.' 

'  Have  you  married  into  the  tribe  ?' 

'  No — not  particularly.     I  just  stay  here.' 

'  The  Delawares  are  not  very  strict  about  marriage  ?' 

1  No,  they  are  sort  of  promiscuous ;  when  a  fellow  likes  a 
squaw  he  just  gives  her  old  man  a  present — sometimes  a  pony, 
sometimes  four  or  five  dollars  in  money — and  takes  the  girl. 
They  live  together  as  long  as  they  like,  and  then  separate,  or 
trade  off  with  some  other  couple.  The  children  go  with  the 
mother ;  and  the  more  children  the  better,  because  every  person 
in  the  tribe  gets  one  hundred  and  sixty  dollars  a  year  from  the 
United  States  Government.' 


1858.]          SOMETHING    ABOUT    THE    SHAWNEES.  95 

'Have  many  white  men  married  Delaware  women?7 

c  Only  eight  in  all.' 

'But  half-breed  children  seem  numerous?' 

'  0  yes,  stranger;  there  are  a  good  many  whites  traveling  through 
here !' 

I  found  the  good  accommodations  of  the  cabin  to  consist  of  a 
single  room  with  earth  floor,  which  could  only  be  entered  through 
a  filthy  hen-house.  Upon  one  of  the  beds  sat  a  stolid  squaw  in  a 
bright  red  calico  frock,  nursing  a  little  papoose,  who  greeted  me 
with  an  infantile  whoop.  Three  more  tawny  children  were  play 
ing  in  the  mud ;  four  scurvy  dogs  lying  in  corners,  and  a  dozen 
chickens  pervading  the  apartment.  It  contained  three  bunks,  a 
table,  four  or  five  chairs,"  a  rifle,  a  broken  looking-glass,  various 
kitchen  utensils,  and  an  enormous  fire-place  in  which  I  could 
stand  upright.  Mine  host  was  a  burly,  reticent  savage.  Our 
entire  conversation  was  as  follows : 

HE.— Umph.     How? 

I. — How  ?     "Wet  weather. 

HE. — Urnph.     Much  wet. 

My  supper  was  of  fat  pork,  corn,  bread  and  strong  coffee.  My 
couch  of  straw  was  deluged  with  rain  and  pre-occupied  by  bed 
bugs.  Early  in  the  morning  I  indulged  in  a  repetition  of  the 
evening  bill  of  fare,  disbursed  the  required  'six  bits,'  (seventy-five 
cents,)  and  bade  a  glad  adieu  to  my  aboriginal  entertainers.  I 
never  learned  their  name,  but  could  very  feelingly  have  dubbed 
them  ''Good  Accommodations.' 

The  Shawnees  like  the  Delawares  were  once  a  warlike  nation. 
They  still  cherish  a  legend  that  their  ancestors  crossed  the  sea ; 
and  they  are  the  only  tribe  who  have  any  such  tradition  of  a 
foreign  origin.  Their  reservation  was  in  Johnson  county.  They 
occupied  good  houses,  and  in  civilization  were  second  only  to  the 
Wyandottes.  By  the  organic  law  of  Kansas,  Indians  who  had 
'  adopted  the  customs  of  the  white  man '  were  allowed  to  vote. 
All  had  adopted  one  frontier  custom :  that  of  drinking  whisky. 
But  only  the  Shawnees  and  Wyandottes  were  permitted  to  use 
the  elective  franchise. 

One  Shawnee  was  called  '  Blue  Jacket,'  and  another  '  Silver 
Heels ;'  while  a  young  Wyandotte  belle  rejoiced  in  the  name  of 
*  Mud-eater.' 


96  POTTAWATOMIE    FUNERAL    KITES.  [1858. 

Spending  a  night  at  the  house  of  Charles  Fish,  a  Shawnee 
chief,  I  encountered  several  of  his  tribe  who  had  come  from 
Texas  to  claim  two  hundred  acres  of  land  each,  which  had  just 
been  secured  to  them  by  a  treaty  with  the  United  States.  One 
was  a  dumpy  old  brave,  with  pumpkin  face  and  so  many  orna 
ments  dangling  from  his  dusky  ears,  that  they  sent  forth  the  en 
ticing  music  of  sleigh-bells.  Another,  a  fantastic  youth,  had  a 
kerchief  of  bright  red  encircling  his  forehead  like  a  band  of 
flame.  He  wore  deer-skin  moccasins,  with  gay  fringes,  a  calico 
hunting  shirt  also  trimmed  with  fiery  red,  and  cloth  leggings 
which  left  his  hips  bare  to  the  winter  winds.  Some  of  the  squaws 
were  very  dark,  others  nearly  white;  and  all  by  glaring  kerchief 
or  shawl  betrayed  the  barbarian  fondness  for  bright  colors.  I 
often  encountered  these  women  on  the  prairie  with  bright-eyed 
papooses  firmly  bound  to  their  backs  peeping  over  their  shoul 
ders,  and  one  or  two  older  children  sitting  before  them ;  while 
wooden  pails,  chairs  and  other  heavy  burdens  weighed  down  the 
unfortunate  steed.  The  men  rode  beside  them  carrying  nothing 
but  their  whisky  bottles,  out  of  respect  to  the  Indian  principle  of 
leaving  work  to  women. 

The  reservation  of  the  Pottawatomies  was  thirty  miles  square. 
No  white  man  could  settle  upon  it  unless  he  first  married  into  the 
tribe.  In  1846  the  Pottawatomies  numbered  fire  thousand.  In 
1858  they  had  become  reduced  to  two  thousand  seven  hundred, 
and  were  diminishing  at  the  rate  of  five  per  cent,  a  year.  Their 
dead  are  buried  with  their  guns,  saddles,  *  medicines,'  food,  and 
tobacco  beside  them.  Sometimes  a  favorite  horse  is  killed  and 
interred  with  his  master.  The  medicine-men  or  prophets  con 
duct  the  funeral  service,  which  consists  of  a  prayer  to  the  Great 
Father  in  this  strain : 

rWe  are  sorry  to  part  with  our  brother  who  was  a  daring 
brave  and  a  good  Indian,  and  whose  lodge  contained  many 
scalps  of  his  enemies.  But  we  have  yielded  to  Thy  will,  and  we 
commit  him  to  Thy  care.  We  have  outfitted  him,  as  Thou  seest, 
for  his  long  journey ;  and  now  we  desire  Thee  to  lead  him  to  the 
fair  land  beyond  the  setting  sun,  where  game  is  always  plentiful, 
and  bad  Indians  and  white  men  never  come.' 

A  stake  at  the  head  of  the  grave  is  carved  into  a  rough  effigy 


1858.] 


OKIGIN    OF    SOME    KANSAS    NAMES. 


97 


of  the  l  medicine '  of  the  deceased,  and  is  marked  with  a  notch  for 
ench  scalp  he  had  taken,  if  he  did  not  find  this  brief  life  all  too 
short  for  successful  indulgence  in  that  favorite  pastime  of  his 
tomahawking  race. 

Some  bodies  are  buried  in  sitting  posture ;  and  others  are  placed 
on  the  boughs  of  trees, 
where  they  remain  until 
from  decomposition  the 
bones  fall  to  the  ground. 
The  Pottawatomies  ob 
serve  many  fast  days, 
with  wild  fantastic  dances 
and  music.  One  band  in 
the  tribe  claims  lineal  de 
scent  from  the  Children  of 
Israel. 

Kansas  towns  perpetu 
ate  many  Indian  names. 
Osawattomie,  the  home  of 
old  John  Brown,  was 
formed  from  the  Osage 
and  Pottawatomie  rivers  at  whose  junction  it  is  built.  Oskaloosa 
was  named  in  joint  honor  of  Oska,  an  old  chief,  and  Loosa  his 
squaw.  Osawkee  signifies  ;the  yellow  leaf.'  Hiawatha  in  Brown 
county  commemorates  Longfellow's  hero.  Kinnekuck  is  a  cor 
ruption  of  Ke-an-ne-kuck,  (the  foremost  man,)  a  great  Kickapoo 
prophet.  *  White  Cloud '  was  a  brave  chief  among  the  lowas, 
and  the  city  of  White  Cloud  is  built  on  his  old  hunting  ground. 
Waubonsee  is  from  Wau-bon-sie,  (the  dawn  of  day,)  the  name 
given  to  a  Pottawatomie  leader  who  attacked  an  enemy  just  at 
daybreak. 

There  is  a  legend  of  an  old  brave  within  the  present  limits  of 
Wisconsin  whose  squaw  annually  presented  him  with  a  girl. 
Women  are  of  little  repute  among  the  Indians,  and  the  heart  of 
the  chieftain  longed  for  a  son  and  heir.  But  the  squaw  had  all 
the  obstinacy  of  her  sex ;  and  every  twelvemonth  the  appearance 
of  the  inevitable  girl  filled  him  with  despondency  and  chagrin. 
On  one  of  these  sad  occasions  the  unhappy  brave  visited  a 


INDIAN  BURIAL. 


98  A    LITTLE    LEGENDARY    LORE.  [1858. 

little  grocery,  for  settlers  were  already  encroaching  upon  his 
domain.  He  was  plunged  in  profoundest  gloom,  and  refused  to 
drink  or  talk. 

A  white  loafer,  knowing  his  disappointment,  congratulated  him 
upon  the  new  arrow  added  to  his  domestic  quiver.  With  a  look 
of  unutterable  disgust,  he  ejaculated  *  She-boy-'gin !'  (she-boy 
again !)  strode  from  the  house,  and  never  again  returned  to  the 
scene  of  his  broken  hopes.  And  when  a  flourishing  town  sprang 
up  around  the  little  grocery,  it  was  named  by  common  consent 
Sheboygan. 

•I  cannot  tell  how  the  truth  may  be ; 
I  say  the  tale  as  'twas  told  to  me.' 


1857.]     GOVERNOR    DENVER    MAKES   HIS    DEBUT. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

EXCITEMENT  now  ran  high.  Force  was  almost  the  only  law. 
Civil  war  seemed  ready  to  blaze  forth  again  at  any  moment.  The 
fierce  strife  had  lasted  for  three  years,  and  the  end  was  not  yet. 
According  to  Daniel  Webster,  our  fathers  fought  seven  years  for 
a  preamble;  a  later  writer  declares  that  the  people  of  Kansas 
battled  four  years  to  veto  an  act  of  Congress.  Every  news 
paper,  North  and  South,  teemed  with  Kansas  reports,  received  by 
telegraph  and  mail,  from  exchanges  or  resident  correspondents. 
According  to  a  popular  story,  a  country  subscriber  stepped  into 
the  Tribune  counting-room,  desiring  to  purchase  a  back  number. 

1  Which  edition  ?'  asked  the  clerk. 

*  The  Weekly.7 

*  Do  you  know  the  date  V 

'Not  exactly, — about  a  year  ago.' 

'  How  can  you  identify  it  ?' 

'  Well,  it  contained  something  about  Kansas  /' 

As  that  description  applied  to  every  issue  of  the  Tribune  for  the 
last  three  years,  the  countryman  went  away  empty-handed. 

This  winter  Buchanan  appointed  James  W.  Denver  governor, 
superseding  Eobert  J.  Walker,  who  had  refused  to  become  a  party 
to  the  bad  faith  of  the  administration.  Denver  was  an  Ohioan 
by  birth,  and  had  been  a  California  pioneer,  once  representing  the 
latter  State  in  Congress.  In  1852  he  killed  in  a  duel  Edward 
Gilbert,  editor  of  the  Alta  California  and  member  of  the  Congres 
sional  delegation. 

Denver  came  to  Kansas  as  a  national  democrat,  and  entered 
upon  his  new  duties  on  the  twenty-second  of  December, 
1857.  His  first  official  experience  was  novel.  A  year  before,  the 


100  AND    HAS    A    SPIRITED    RECEPTION.  [1857. 

Territorial  authorities  had  seized  one  hundred  and  fifty  mus 
kets  and  carbines  from  a  Free  State  emigrant  train,  and  they 
were  now  stored  at  Lecompton  in  the  basement  of  the  governor's 
office. 

Sixty  citizens  of  Lawrence,  under  Colonel  Eldridge,  called  upon 
Denver  the  morning  after  he  reached  Lecompton,  and  de 
manded  that  the  arms  be  given  up.  Denver  declined,  on  the 
ground  that  he  had  no  authority,  and  that  the  Free  State  men 
wanted  them  to  overawe  the  ballot-box  at  the  approaching  elec 
tion  of  January  fourth.  Eldridge  offered  to  give  any  required 
security  that  the  guns  should  be  used  for  no  such  purpose.  His 
excellency  still  refusing,  Eldridge  remarked : 

*  Governor,  those  guns  are  private  property ;  taking  them 
from  us  was  an  outrage ;  keeping  them  there  has  been  an  out 
rage.  We  have  come  here  fully  armed,  and  we  are  going  to  have 
them !' 

This  was  a  final  argument,  and  proved  effective.  The  arms 
were  carried  triumphantly  to  Lawrence.  In  Delaware  City  a  hun 
dred  United  States  muskets  were  stored  in  the  office  of  a  physician. 
At  midnight  the  doctor  was  roused  by  a  messenger  who  implored 
him  to  visit  a  dying  man  several  miles  distant.  He  saddled  his 
horse  and  rode  to  see  his  suppositions  patient,  but  no  dying  man 
was  found.  When  he  returned  the  arms  were  gone.  Delaware 
was  a  Pro-slavery  town,  and  this  ruse  was  adopted  by  Free  State 
men  from  another  settlement  to  obtain  the  guns  without  bloodshed. 
In  January,  a  party  of  Free  Soilers  from  Leaven  worth,  visited 
Kickapoo,  and  captured  a  brass  twelve-pounder  belonging  to  the 
Kickapoo  Eangers.  Harnessing  six  horses  to  the  gun,  they 
adorned  it  with  flags,  and  brought  it  home,  bearing  the  label, 
1  Election  returns  from  Kickapoo.'  This  inscription  was  the  key 
to  much  bitter  feeling.  At  two  provisional  elections  under  the 
Lecompton  constitution  the  most  glaring  frauds  had  been  practised. 
The  figures  from  a  few  precincts  will  illustrate : 

PRECINCT.  LEGAL  VOTERS.  VOTES  RETURNED. 

Oxford,  100  1288 

Delaware  Crossing,       35  535 

Kickapoo,  100  1057 

163  729 


1857.] 


WONDERFUL    ELECTION    RETURNS. 


101 


Of  seven  thousand  votes  polled  for  the  Lecompton  constitution 
in  December,  less  than  two  thousand  were  legal.  In  Kickapoo 
the  voters  formed  a  ring  which  enclosed  the  polls  and  a  whisky 
saloon.  As  it  slowly  revolved,  one  man  deposited  his  ballot,  while 
another  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  circle,  improved  the  halt  by 
taking  a  drink.  Many  voted  half  a  dozen  times  under  ficticioua 
names ;  the 
judges  conniv 
ing  at  the 
fraud.  The 
poll-books  re 
turned  Henry 
Ward  Beecher, 
James  Buchan 
an,  Horace 
Greeley,  Wil 
liam  H.  Se- 
ward,  and  Ed 
win  Forest, 
duly  sworn  to 
as  amongst  the 
voters !  The 
returns  from 
one  precinct  of 
Johnson  coun 
ty  contained 
more  than  a 

thousand  names  copied    alphabetically  from 
business  directory. 

The  legislature,  now  under  Free  State  control,  passed  a  law 
submitting  the  Lecompton  institution  to  a  vote  of  the  people  on 
the  fourth  of  January.  The  same  day  was  set  apart  by  the  Pro- 
slavery  authorities  for  electing  State  officers  under  it,  to  be  ready 
to  serve  the  moment  Congress  should  ratify  it  and  change  the 
Territory  into  a  State. 

There  was  much  discussion  among  the  Free  Soilers  as  to 
whether  they  should  vote  for  these  State  officers,  that  in  the  pos 
sible  contingency  of  Congress  admitting -Kansas  into  the  Union, 


VOTING   IN  KICKAPOO. 


an   old    Cincinnati 


102  TO    VOTE    OR    NOT    TO    VOTE.  [1858. 

under  the  Lecompton  constitution,  the  power  might  still  remain  in 
their  hands.  A  Territorial  convention  of  three  hundred  delegates 
met  in  Lawrence  and  discussed  the  question  for  two  days.  One 
party  favored  voting  to  get  possession  of  the  government.  The 
other  opposed  it  on  the  grounds  that  all  the  Free  Soil  settlers  had 
steadily  repudiated  the  Lecompton  constitution  as  illegal  and 
fraudulent ;  that  to  vote  under  it  would  recognize  its  validity  ;  and 
that  all  the  election  judges,  being  Pro-slavery,  they  would  surely 
be  defeated  by  false  returns. 

This  warm  debate  continued  hour  after  hour.  The  convention 
was  nearly  equally  divided,  but  the  trembling  scale  was  suddenly 
turned.  Lane  was  in  the  field  near  Fort  Scott,  where  of  late 
there  had  been  much  bloodshed.  At  midnight,  on  the  last  day  of 
the  convention,  while  the  flaring  candles  in  the  unfinished  church 
where  it  was  held,  lit  up  hundreds  of  anxious  unwearied  faces, 
messengers  arrived  in  hot  haste  from  the  camp  and  were  instantly 
called  upon  the  stand.  They  stated  that  Lane's  men  were  in 
trenched  ready  to  resist  the  Border  Kuffians  and,  if  the  Territorial 
authorities  attempted  to  make  them  lay  down  their  arms  before 
their  enemies  were  dispersed,  they  would  fight  the  United  States 
troops.  This  startling  report  was  received  with  tremendous  ap 
plause  ;  and  the  convention  decided  not  to  vote.  But  the  next 
morning  the  blood  of  the  members  had  somewhat  cooled,  and 
prudence  prevailed  over  impulse. 

When  the  fourth  of  January  came  they  did  vote.  And  despite 
some  glaring  frauds,  Free  Soilers  were  elected  to  every  office 
under  the  Lecompton  constitution.  These  newly-chosen  officers, 
from  governor  down,  united  in  a  memorial  to  Congress,  protesting 
against  the  admission  of  the  State  under  that  fraudulent  instru 
ment — perhaps  the  only  instance  on  record  of  Americans  petition 
ing  themselves  out  of  office.  The  people  of  Kansas,  also,  re 
pudiated  it  at  the  polls  by  a  majority  of  about  eleven  thou 
sand  ;  (the  entire  vote  of  the  Territory  was  thirteen  thousand,) 
but  the  Pro-slavery  men  had  refused  to  participate  in  this  election. 

J.  T.  Henderson,  late  editor  of  the  Leavenworth  Journal,  had 
been  secretary  of  the  convention  forming  the  Lecompton  constitu 
tion.  Now  he  was  charged  with  tampering  with  the  returns 
from  Delaware  Crossing,  by  inserting  *  5 '  before  '  35,'  and  thus 


1858.]  A    KANSAS    SEARCH-WARRANT.  103 

increasing  the  Pro-slavery  vote  five  hundred.  Several  Law 
rence  officers,  with  a  volunteer  posse,  overtook  and  stopped  a 
stage  coach  in  which  he  was  escaping  eastward,  near  Westport, 
Missouri.  As  they  had  no  legal  authority  in  that  State,  Hender 
son  drew  his  revolver  and  threatened  resistance.  But  Providence 
favored  the  strongest  battalions,  and  they  brought  him  a  prisoner 
to  Lawrence.  The  evidence  against  him  was  not  altogether  con 
vincing,  and  after  a  few  days'  confinement  he  escaped. 

Nine  years  later  Colonel  William  A.  Phillips  met  the  former 
fugitive  on  Pennsylvania  Avenue  in  Washington.  As  they 
shook  hands,  the  ex-:7H6wfte-correspondent  remarked: 

'  When  I  last  saw  you,  you  were  clerk  of  the  Lecompton  con 
vention.' 

1  Yes,'  replied  Henderson  ;   *  but  do  you  see  that  leg  ?' 

Phillips  glanced  at  the  shortened  limb,  maimed  by  a  rebel  bul 
let,  and  answered : 

*  I  have  nothing  more  to  say ;  your  apology  is  ample !' 

In  this  respect  Henderson  stood  not  alone.  Hundreds  of  men 
who  took  part  with  the  Border  Ruffians  during  the  Kansas 
troubles,  brought  forth  fruits  meet  for  repentance  by  fighting  in 
the  Union  armies  during  our  great  war. 

The  legislature  appointed  a  commission  to  investigate  the  elec 
tion  frauds.  To  do  this  understandingly  the  members  needed  the 
poll-books  and  returns.  L.  A.  McLean,  chief  clerk  of  John  Cal- 
houn,  (president  of  the  Lecompton  convention,)  was  brought  be 
fore  them  and  swore  that  the  returns  were  not  in  Kansas — that  he 
had  sent  them  to  Calhoun  in  Missouri.  This  was  believed  to  be 
false ;  and  a  search-warrant  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  Sheriff 
Samuel  Walker.  Armed  with  this  document,  and  with  a  posse  of 
eight  men,  Walker  visited  McLean's  office  in  Lecompton. 

*  Search  wherever  you  like/  said  McLean  ;  'you  will  find  noth 
ing.     I  sent  the  returns  into  Missouri  a  week  ago. 

I  We  shall  see,'  persisted  Walker :    c  Boys,  just  pitch  into  that 
woodpile  outside  the  door.' 

McLean's  cheek  blanched  as  he  answered : 

I 1  forbid  it,  until  I  can  call  a  lawyer  to  examine  this  warrant/ 

*  Call  your  lawyer  responded  the  sheriff;  '  but,  meanwhile  to  save 
time,  we  will  go  on  with  the  search.7 


104  HISTORY    OF    THE    MINNEOLA    SCHEME.        [1858. 

Under  the  wood-pile,  buried  in  the  earth,  was  discovered  a  box 
bearing  McLean's  name,  and  labeled  *  candles.'  Within  it  were 
the  election  returns,  and  they  aided  materially  in  ferreting  out  the 
frauds.  McLean  escaped  punishment  by  flight,  but  the  '  candle- 
box  '  achieved  a  notoriety  that  never  candle-box  won  before ;  and 
its  contents  were  so  luminous  that  they  prevented  Congress  from 
carrying  out  Buchanan's  recommendation  to  admit  Kansas  under 
the  Lecompton  constitution. 

A  year  later,  after  the  strife  was  ended,  I  was  present  at  a  Free 
State  jubilee,  in  Atchison  county,  which  closed  its  ceremonies  by 
burying  the  Lecompton  constitution  in  a  candle-box,  under  a  wood 
pile.  But  the  Kansans  will  hardly  re-enact  the  farce  annually  for 
two  hundred  years,  as  the  English  repeat  the  drama  of  Guy 
Fawkes  upon  each  anniversary. 

This  winter,  for  the  first  time,  the  legislature  was  composed  of 
Free  State  men.  They  proved  faithful  politically  but  not  pecunia 
rily.  They  laid  out  a  town  twenty  miles  south  of  Lawrence,  call, 
ing  it  Minneola ;  passed  a  charter  enabling  the  company  to  hold 
two  thousand  acres  of  land ;  and  then  enacted  a  law  making  Min 
neola  the  Territorial  capital.  The  members  owned  the  town,  and 
by  making  it  the  seat  of  government  hoped  to  make  their  fortunes 
likewise. 

The  people  emphatically  disapproved  of  the  project.  The 
bogus  legislature  had  located  the  capital  at  Lecompton  in  precisely 
the  same  way  ;  and  the  Free  State  men  had  always  denounced  thai 
proceeding  as  a  shameless  fraud. 

The  journalists  in  Lawrence  held  a  secret  evening  meeting  to 
consider  the  movement.  The  entire  Free  State  press  of  the  Terri 
tory  and  nearly  all  leading  journals  of  the  East  were  repre 
sented.  An  informal  vote  showed  that  every  one  present  was 
hostile  to  the  Minneola  project.  A  consultation  followed  as  to 
the  most  effective  method  of  breaking  it  up.  The  men  of  the 
quill  agreed  to  expose  its  true  character ;  arranged  a  line  of  attack ; 
studied  the  most  vulnerable  points  of  the  scheme,  and  determined 
to  keep  their  own  counsel.  A  large  amount  of  Minneola  stock 
had  been  set  aside  for  members  of  the  press.  A  representative 
offered  to  present  me  with  a  share,  but  I  declined  it  on  the  ground 
t&at  I  was  opposed  to  the  whole  movement.  He  assured  me  that 


1858.]  'MIGHTIER    THAN    THE    SWORD.7  105 

its  acceptance  would  involve  no  pledge  either  direct  or  implied ; 
and  I  received  an  elaborate  certificate  which  in  flaming  colors  and 
imposing  typography  declared  me  the  owner  of  'eight  lots  in  the 
town  of  Mmneola,  the  capital  of  Kansas  Territory,  said  lots  not 
being  subject  to  taxation  by  the  Minneola  company .'  As  I  re 
ceived  the  document  he  remarked : 

'  We  are  going  to  make  a  great  thing  out  of  the  town  ;  in  six 
months  this  share  will  be  worth  five  hundred  dollars.  You  don't 
believe  it?  How  much  do  you  owe  me  on  our  last  account?' 

'A  hundred  and  fifteen  dollars/ 

*  Well,  assign  this  certificate  over  to  me  and  I  will  give  you  a 
receipt  in  full.' 

I  declined  the  offer ;  biddh.^*  my  interlocutor  not  to  be  over 
sanguine  but  to  wait  for  developments.  In  a  few  days  .the  news 
papers  began  to  be  heard  from.  Minneola  was  assailed  with  unspar 
ing  ridicule  and  execration.  The  company  not  knowing  whence 
they  originated  had  to  fight  in  the  dark.  They  made  a  spirited  con 
test,  however ;  built  great  hotels  and  legislative  halls  in  the  em 
bryo  city;  plausibly  defended  their  conduct,  and  fancied  that 
hostilities  would  soon  abate.  But  they  did  not;  ,tnd  the  schemers 
were  nearly  all  ruined  politically  and  pecuniarily.  The  thirty- 
nine  representatives  and  their  chief  clerk  received  the  appella 
tion  of  the  '  Forty  Thieves.'  The  governor  refused  to  recognize 
the  law.  Subsequent  constitutional  conventions  and  legislatures 
did  the  same,  and  the  enterprise  ended  in  total  failure.  Three  or 
four  of  the  company  sold  out  during  the  first  excitement  and 
pocketed  a  handsome  profit.  But  the  next  year  I  gladly  disposed 
of  my  share  for  fifteen  dollars ;  and  at  present  Minneola  consists 
of  several  excellent  farms. 

How  history  repeats  itself  even  in  petty  details !  In  1795  the 
Georgia  legislature  passed  a  law  selling  forty  million  acres  of 
public  lands  for  five  hundred  thousand  dollars.  The  event 
proved  that  the  members  with  one  solitary  exception  were  inter 
ested  in  the  purchase :  every  one  receiving  money  or  land  for  his 
vote.  The  next  legislature,  chosen  solely  on  that  issue,  declared 
the  law  null  and  void;  ordered  it  to  be  expunged  from  the 
records  and  burned  by  the  common  hangman.  Nearly  every 
grand  jury  in  the  State  presented  the  statute  as  a  robbery  and  a 


106         GENERAL    LANE    RECEIVES    HIS    FRIENDS.    [1858. 

fraud.  In  Congress  years  later,  strenuous  efforts  were  made  to 
re-imburse  the  companies  which  had  since  purchased  the  lands,  on 
the  ground  that  they  were  innocent  third  parties.  The  postmas 
ter-general  of  the  United  States  who  had  bought  a  large  interest, 
was  at  the  head  of  one  of  these  organizations ;  but  the  effort  was 
defeated  by  a  majority  in  the  House,  headed  by  John  Kandolph, 
who  opposed  the  scheme  in  some  of  his  most  bitter  speeches. 

During  this  session  of  the  Kansas  legislature,  General  Lane 
whom  President  Buchanan  had  denounced  by  proclamation  as  'a 
dangerous  and  turbulent  military  leader,'  sold  a  piece  of  land,  and 
came  in  possession  of  some  money.  Lucre  was  a  novelty  to  the 
grim  chieftain,  and  made  him  uncomfortable.  So  he  issued 
cards  informing  his  'dear  five  hundred  friends'  that  General 
Lane  would  ' receive '  that  evening  at  the  representative  hall. 

Eight  o'clock  found  the  room  densely  crowded.  Hail  storms 
of  oysters  were  followed  by  showers  of  champagne.  On  that  far 
frontier  these  unwonted  luxuries  ripened  into  their  legitimate 
American  fruits — enthusiastic  toasts  and  endless  speeches.  No 
ladies  were  present,  and  at  last  the  hilarity  became  very  boister 
ous.  At  its  greatest  hight  Lane  leaped  upon  a  table,  and  in 
stentorian  tones  which  penetrated  that  whole  pandemonium, 
announced  that  Judge  Arny  had  just  arrived  from  Washington 
and  would  address  the  meeting.  (Enthusiastic  and  tumultuous 
applause.)  The  expectant  orator,  a  well-known  citizen  who  bore 
the  formidable  initials  '  W.  F.  M.,'  was  profanely  entitled  '  Alpha 
betical  Arny.'  He  was  a  harmless  gentleman,  with  a  genius  for 
getting  his  name  into  print,  and  a  hallucination  that  he  was  a  can 
didate  for  the  United  States  Senate.  Ordinarily  public  meetings 
voted  him  tedious,  but  the  Lecompton  constitution  was  pending ; 
railways  and  telegraphs  were  as  yet  unknown,  and  there  was 
-deep  anxiety  to  hear  the  latest  news  from  Washington. 

Arny  came  forward  intensely  gratified  at  his  enthusiastic  re 
ception.  Just  as  he  uttered  *  Fellow  Citizens,'  an  inebriate  auditor 
within  three  feet  of  him  shouted  in  unearthly  tones :  'Arny !' 

Again  he  essayed  to  speak,  and  again  that  voice  thundered 
lArny/J 

Meanwhile  the  audience  had  attained  the  perfection  of 
confusion.  Some  lay  upon  the  floor ;  some  were  stretched  upon 


1858.] 


A    SPEECH    NIPPED    IN    THE    BUD. 


107 


tables ;  others  lounged  over  the  backs  of  chairs,  and  were  hurl 
ing  champagne  bottles  at  each  other's  heads. 

At  last  through  Lane's  persuasion  comparative  order  was 
restored.  Arny  was  full  of  a  very  eloquent  speech  which 
probably  he  had  been  rehearsing  all  the  way  from  Washington. 
Unfortunately  it  was  hardly  adapted  to  the  occasion,  for  he  com 
menced  very  solemnly : 

MY  FELLOW  CITIZENS  :  After  spending  many  months  among  other  and  different 
surroundings,  it  does  my  fieart  good  to  look  once  more  upon  a  scene  like  this  V 


A   SCENE   LIKE   THIS  I' 


The  assembly  had  just  intelligence  enough  left  to  appreciate  the 
absurdity  of  such  an  exordium.  Shouts  upon  shouts  of  laughter 
followed,  bursting  forth  afresh  whenever  the  speaker  attempted  to 
go  on.  At  last  he  indignantly  retired ;  and  his  sonorous  oration 
remains  unfinished  to  this  day. 

On  the  eve  of  adjournment  the  legislature  passed  the  following, 
with  only  two  or  three  dissenting  voices: 


108  GOVEKNORS    PLENTY    AS    BLACKBERRIES.     [1858. 

RESOLVED  by  the  Legislative  Assembly  of  the  Territory  of  Kansas: — 

That  we  do  hereby  for  the  last  time  solemnly  protest  against  the  admission  of  Kan. 
sas  into  the  Union  under  the  Lecompton  constitution. 

That  we  hurl  back  with  scorn  the  libelous  charge  contained  in  the  message  of  the 
president  of  the  United  States,  to  the  effect  that  the  freemen  of  Kansas  are  a  lawless 
people. 

That  relying  upon  the  justice  of  our  cause,  we  do  hereby  in  behalf  of  the  people  we 
represent,  solemnly  pledge  to  each  other  and  to  our  friends  in  Congress  and  in  the 
States  our  lives,  our  fortunes,  and  our  sacred  honor  to  resist  the  Lecompton  constitu 
tion  and  government  by  force  of  arms,  if  necessary. 

That  in  this  perilous  hour  of  our  history,  we  appeal  to  the  civilized  world  for  the 
rectitude  of  our  position,  and  call  upon  the  friends  of  freedom  everywhere  to  array 
themselves  against  this  last  act  of  oppression  in  the  Kansas  drama. 

That  the  governor  be  requested  immediately  to  transmit  certified  copies  of  these 
resolutions  to  the  president,  the  speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  the  president 
of  the  Senate,  and  our  Territorial  delegate  in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States. 

Though  a  Buchanan  democrat,  Denver  proved  more  fair  and 
just  than  any  previous  governor  of  Kansas.  During  the  rebel 
lion  he  was  a  brigadier-general  in  the  Union  service ;  and  the 
thriving  metropolis  of  Colorado  still  perpetuates  his  name. 

One  of  the  last  deeds  of  the  legislature  was  a  statute  authorizing 
a  new  constitutional  convention  which  in  due  time  formed  the 
Leavenworth  constitution.  There  were  now  four  goverments,  all 
claiming  authority :  the  Territorial ;  and  the  three  State  govern 
ments  under  the  Topeka,  the  Lecompton,  and  the  Leavenworth 
constitutions — all  awaiting  ratification  by  Congress. 

Infant  constitutions  are  proverbially  weak,  and  none  of  these 
three  State  governments  ever  gained  vitality.  Ultimately,  Kan 
sas  came  into  the  Union  under  a  fourth  constitution,  framed  at 
Wyandotte.  But  all  these  governors,  beside  three  or  four 
beheaded  executives  of  the  Territory  were  called  by  their  titles. 
Governors  were  as  plenty  as  blackberries  and  quite  as  cheap. 
Almost  every  prominent  citizen  held  office  in  one  of  the  conflict 
ing  organizations,  and  some  in  all  of  them.  All  public  positions 
were  sought  for  with  eagerness.  As  they  brought  neither  power, 
honor,  nor  emolument,  their  value  was  hardly  appreciable,  unless 
to  remind  some  new  Burke  what  shadows  we  are  and  what  shad 
ows  we  pursue. 


1858.]  AN    IMAGINABY    CITY.  109 


CHAPTER    IX. 


IN  May  I  went  on  a  tour  through  Johnson  county,  from  which 
during  recent  disturbances,  several  Pro-slavery  settlers  had  been 
driven  into  Missouri.  Reports  as  to  the  origin  and  character  of 
the  difficulties  were  as  conflicting  as  the  stories  of  the  notorious 
liar  described  to  Dr.  Franklin.  1A  very  pleasant  fellow '  said  his 
eulogist,  '  although  you  must  not  believe  more  than  half  he  says.* 
'  '  Exactly,'  replied  the  philosopher ;  '  but  which  half?' 

On  my  route  was  the  abortive  little  village  of  Turpinville, 
which  irreverent  settlers  called  *  Turpentine.'  It  consisted  of  three 
or  four  wretched  shanties  with  little  trade  except  in  whisky  by 
the  glass.  But  recently  a  town  company  had  been  formed,  the 
named  changed  to  Johnson  City,  and  a  magnificent  plan  printed, 
with  streets,  avenues,  and  public  buildings  in  imposing  array. 
One  day  a  wistful  young  immigrant,  carpet-sack  in  hand,  ap 
proaching  the  shanties,  asked  a  farmer  by  the  roadside, 

1  Can  you  direct  me  to  Johnson  City  ?' 

1  0.  yes !  there  it  is.' 

*  Where  ?'  inquired  the  stranger,  whose  eye  slowly  and  blankly 
swept  the  horizon. 

'  There  ;  right  before  you ! ' 

With  long-drawn  sigh  the  young  man  went  away  sorrowful,  for 
he  had  not  great  possessions.  He  had  made  a  small  investment  in 
the  town  upon  the  assurance  that  it  contained  thirty-three  houses 
with  thirty  more  in  progress,  property  rising  and  prospects  bright. 
He  paid  less  for  his  knowledge  than  most  victims,  and  thereafter 
listened  not  to  the  voice  of  the  charmer,  charm  he  never  so  wisely, 

Just  before  my  trip  a  marauding  Free  State  band  visited  a  set 
tler  at  midnight  and  inquired  his  politics.  Supposing  them  to  be 


110 


WHAT    ARE    YOUR    POLITICS? 


[18D8, 


Missourians  he  declared  himself  Pro-slavery.  They  took  hia 
horse  and  departed.  Afterward  learning  that  he  was  a  Free 
Soiler,  they  tied  the  animal  to  a  tree,  where  he  found  it  with  a 
note  pinned  to  the  bridle,  containing  the  wholesome  injunction 
never  to  tell  a  lie  at  ninety  days,  when  he  could  tell  the  truth  for 
cash  !  Another  unfortunate  fellow,  just  arrived  was  stopped  by 
an  armed  band  who  demanded  his  opinions.  He  answered  : 
'  I  am  a  Free  State  man.' 

His  interlocutors,  being  Missourians,  robbed  him  of  his  .watch 
and  money  and  departed.     Before  noon  he  encountered  another 
company  who  made  the  same  inquiry,  but  he  promptly  replied : 
'  I  am  Pro-slavery.' 

This  time  the  marauders,  who  loudly  professed  to  be  Free  State 

men,  took  his  horse  and 
departed.  Just  at  night 
while  journey  ing  on  foot, 
he  was  met  by  a  third 
party  who  asked  the 
old  question.  The  be? 
wildered  traveler  re 
plied  : 

'  What  are  your  poli 
tics?  It  makes  no  dif 
ference  to  me:  I  agree 
with  you  perfectly !' 

He  was  not  further 
molested: 

In  a  field  beside  my 
road  two  men  were 
planting  corn.  Near 
them,  hands  in  pockets, 
lounged  a  third,  tall  and 
gaunt,  eyes  bloodshot, 
nose  red,  hair  long  and 
matted,  beard  ragged, 

and  one  cheek  distended  by  a  great  roll  of  tobacco.    He  inquired 
gruffly : 

1  Whar  are  yer  from,  stranger  T 


OLD  KAINTUCK.' 


1858.]        FREAKS   OF    POLITICAL    HIGHWAYMEN.  Ill 


'  Ohio.     Where  are  you  from  ?' 

'Old  Kaintuck.  I  reckon  thar'll  be  a  smart  fight  right  soon; 
and  like  to  know  whar  every  man  hails  from.' 

'  Did  the  fight  begin  the  other  night  at  your  neighbor's  who 
was  robbed  and  warned  out  of  the  country  ?' 

'No  sir;  them  fellers  was  just  a  pack  of  d  —  d  thieves.  They 
did'nt  care  any  thing  about  politics  —  only  wanted  old  Evans's 
money.' 

1  Did  they  molest  you  ?' 

'Nary  time.  They  knew  better.  I  have  got  twelve  Missis 
sippi  rifles,  seven  bowie  knives,  and  six  revolvers  up  in  my  house. 
Six  of  us  stops  thar,  and  if  they  come  near  us  we  will  kill  every 
mother's  son  of  them,  by  —  !  I  have  got  ten  niggers  in  old 
Kaintuck  ;  did'nt  dar  bring  them  here  ;  will  sell  them  next  year, 
and  hire  poor  white  men.  If  they  won't  let  me  have  black  ser 
vants,  I  will  have  white  ones,  by  —  I' 

I  afterward  learned  that  the  marauders  did  visit  this  Bombastes 
Furioso  only  a  few  nights  before,  and  he  proved  the  meekest  of 
non-resistants,  begging  them  to  spare  his  life,  and  a  little  of  his 
whisky. 

I  found  Olathe,  the  county  seat,  under  military  guard  ;  arid 
public  sentiment  throughout  the  county  universal  against  the  rob 
bers,  who  under  political  pretexts,  were  plundering  promis 
cuously.  Before  many  weeks  the  citizens  effectually  suppressed 
them. 

Returning,  I  took  the  Lawrence  road,  and  at  nine  in  the  eve 
ning  sought  lodging  in.  a  little  white  cottage,  to  find  it  occupied 
by  a  brawny  Indian.  He  answered  my  greeting: 

*  Umph  !  what  um  want  ?' 

'  Want  to  stop  over  night.     Where  ?T 

His  long,  bony  finger  pointed  down  the  road,  and  he  muttered  : 

1  Um  —  good  woman  —  big  house.7 

<  How  far?' 

'  Um  —  mile  —  two  mile  —  half!' 

The  next  building  was  a  log-house.  After  I  had  tapped  several 
times  upon  its  door  an  anxious  voice  from  within  asked  : 

'Who's  thar?' 

'A  stranger.     Can  you  keep  me  to-night  ?' 


112 


NOT    MUCH    BOOM    LEFT. 


[1858. 


'Are  you  alone?' 

'All  alone.' 

A  pair  of  eyes  peered  through,  the  crack  to  reconnoiter ;   then 

a  whole  head 
was  visible,  and 
the  door  slowly 
opened. 

'Come  in  stran 
ger.  Sorry  to 
keep  you  wait 
ing,  but  thar's 
so  many  gangs 
prowling  the 
country  that  we 
have  to  be  cau 
tious  at  night.' 

The  only  room 
of  the  little 
cabin  contained 
three  beds,  all 
filled  with  slum- 
berers.  Despair 
ingly  asked  I: 
Could  they  ac 
commodate  me 
for  the  night  ? 
The  prairie  pa 
triarch,  whose  unkempt  head  loomed  up  like  a  bundle  of  hay 
above  his  long  night-shirt,  replied  : 

4 1  wish  I  mought,  but  the  fact  is,  stranger,  we  are  about  full 

here!     However,  thar's  the  Widow  C ,  half  a  mile  from  here? 

who  always  keeps  travelers.' 

To  the  Widow  C 's  I  rode,  and  tapped  on  the  door.     A 

masculine  voice  promptly  replied: 

'Halloa!  who  is  it!' 

'A  traveler :  can  you  lodge  me  ?' 

'I  reckon,'  was  the  terse  reply. 

Eureka !  I  had  found  it.     I  was  placed  in  the  old  house  hard 


'ABOUT  FULL  HERE.' 


1858.]  AN    EXCITEMENT    AT    LAWRENCE.  113 

by,  where  I  slept  refreshingly  in  one  bed,  while  a  hen  with  a 
brood  of  chickens  occupied  another. 

Breakfast  proved  the  widow  a  model  of  cookery,  and  her  con 
versation  a  marvel  of  loquacity.  Then  I  went  on  my  way  re 
joicing,  riding  toward  Lawrence  in  the  society  of  a  drunken  In 
dian,  who  by  the  slipping  of  his  saddle-girth  was  three  times 
thrown  head-foremost  on  the  ground  while  his  horse  was  at  full 
gallop,  and  yet  did  not  break  his  worthless  neck. 

On  Thursday,  June  third,  I  was  in  the  office  of  the  Lawrence 
Herald  of  Freedom,  when  a  boy  came  in  with  the  report : 

'  There  has  just  been  a  fight  up  town.' 

'  This  was  such  an  every-day  affair  that  I  did  not  look  up  from  my 
writing.  A  moment  afterward  another  messenger  entered  and  said : 

'  There's  a  man  killed.' 

Even  this  excited  little  attention  in  those  times  of  violence. 
But  suddenly  a  voice  was  heard  from  the  street : 

'  Jim  Lane  has  killed  Gains  Jenkins,  and  a  mob  has  gathered 
around  his  house  to  hang  him.' 

There  was  no  more  indifference ;  the  unarmed  ran  for  revolvers ; 
and  we  all  hastened  to  Lane's  house  half  a  mile  away.  Around  it 
were  two  or  three  hundred  excited  men,  a  few  proposing  to  lynch 
Lane,  but  the  majority  declaring  that  he  should  be  tried  by  due 
course  of  law.  Among  the  former  was  the  notorious  ex -Sheriff 
Jones,  who  had  led  the  Border  Kuffian  horde  in  sacking  Lawrence 
two  years  earlier.  During  the  comparative  quiet  which  now  pre 
vailed,  he  frequently  visited  the  city.  In  the  midst  of  his  loud 
talk,  sheriff  Samuel  Walker  quietly  remarked : 

'  Look  here,  Jones ;  be  careful  how  you  recommend  hanging. 
These  people  are  a  good  deal  excited  already,  and  if  they  hang 
anybody,  will  be  very  likely  to  begin  with  youP 

The  visitor  instantly  apologized  for  his  intrusion  into  Lawrence 
affairs,  and  took  the  first  stage  for  Lecompton. 

I  found  General  Lane  upon  a  bed  in  his  house,  crippled  by  a 
pistol  shot  in  the  knee,  and  surrounded  by  his  wife  and  children, 
all  in  tears. 

At  the  residence  of  Jenkins  only  a  few  yards  away,  lay  the 
bloody  corpse  of  the  husband  and  father,  while  the  air  rung  with 
shrieks  from  the  widow  and  the  fatherless. 


114:  JENKINS    KILLED    BY    GENEEAL    LANE          [1858 

Sheriff  Walker  at  once  took  Lane  into  custody,  and  the  excite 
ment  soon  subsided. 

Lane  and  Jenkins  both  lived  upon  a  contested  '  claim '  worth 
from  ten  to  fifteen  thousand  dollars.  Each  insisted  that  he  was 
the  rightful  owner,  and  for  months  the  title  had  been  in  litigation 
at  Washington.  Jenkins,  brave  and  impetuous,  was  widely 
known,  having  held  a  colonel's  position  in  the  Free  State  army, 
and  been  one  of  the  famous  treason  prisoners  in  1856.  He 
seemed  to  believe  that  if  he  could  drive  Lane  from  the  premises, 
it  would  improve  his  prospect  of  gaining  the  suit.  He  therefore- 
made  many  threats,  and  at  last  stimulated  by  Lane's  political 
rivals  and  enemies,  proceeded  to  violence. 

For  months  Lane  had  remained  in  undisputed  possession  of  the 
house  he  occupied.  Within  its  inclosure  was  a  well  from  which 
the  family  of  Jenkins  obtained  water.  As  the  quarrel  progressed, 
Lane  ordered  Jenkins  off  the  premises.  Jenkins  persisted,  cut 
down  the  fence,  and  forced  open  the  cover  of  the  well.  Lane 
mended  both  breaches,  and  messages  of  defiance  passed  between 
the  parties.  Jenkins  with  three  armed  companions  again  cut 
down  the  fence,  and  started  toward  the  well.  Lane,  gun  in  hand, 
standing  near  his  house,  warned  them  off,  but  they  continued  to 
approach  menacingly.  .Then  he  fired,  killing  Jenkins  instantly. 
The  Jenkins  party  answered  with  two  or  three  revolver  shots,  one 
of  which  entered  Lane's  knee. 

Though  justifiable  by  no  code  of  sound  morals,  Lane  did  ex 
actly  what  two  out  of  three  frontier  settlers  would  have  done 
under  the  circumstances:  The  case  was  fully  investigated  by  a 
board  of  magistrates,  who  unanimously  discharged  him ;  and  the 
grand  jury  refused  to  find  a  bill  against  him. 

For  months  afterward  he  took  no  part  in  public  affairs.  He 
rejoined  the  Methodist  church  from  which  he  had  long  been  sus 
pended,  and  he  seldom  appeared  in  public.  But  the  people  par 
doned  the  homicide,  and  when  Kansas  was  admitted  to  the 
Union,  elected  him  to  represent  them  in  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States.  For  six  years  he  remained  in  that  high  office;  but  as  I 
write  these  pages,  intelligence  comes  of  his  death  by  his  own 
hand.  Following  Andrew  Johnson's  defection  from  the  republi 
can  party  which  elected  him,  Lane  had  received  unmistakable 


1858.] 


AN    ADVENTUROUS    CATFISH. 


115 


evidences  of  the  indignant  disapproval  of  his  constituents.  It  was 
believed  too,  that  he  feared  developments  about  to  be  made, 
proving  him  in  league  with  a  band  of  Kansas  cormorants  who 
were  despoiling  the  public  treasury  through  Indian  contracts. 
For  some  weeks  he  showed  signs  of  insanity  and  at  last,  near 
Leavenworth,  fired  the  shot  which  proved  fatal  in  a  few  days. 
Poor  Lane!  Under  all  his  monstrous  defects  must  have  been 
some  goodness,  or  he  had  never  so  gained  and  held  the  attach 
ment  of  pure,  earnest  men.  Through  many  dark  years  he  stood 
true  to  the  Free  State  cause  and  he  organized  the  first  regiment 
of  negro  troops  in  our  great  war.  His  life  was  very  turbulent ; 
now  he  sleeps  in  peace  among  the  green  prairies  of  the  young 
State  he  struggled  so  long  to  mold. 

The  Kansas  river,  six  hundred  miles  in  length,  was  at  first  be 
lieved  navigable  from  its  mouth  to  Lawrence  through  the  year, 
and  to  Fort  Riley  during  the  winter  months.  But  it  proved 
adapted  only  to  that  traditional  steamer  which  could  run 
wherever  there  was  a  heavy  dew.  In  1857  a  small  boat  drawing 
but  fourteen  inches 
Was  advertised  to  ^^  ^  -^^  -===. 

-.•5^-..^      J£\^E===:S-         :==— 

ply  semi-weekly  be 
tween  Kansas  City 
and  Lawrence.  Her 
first  trip  occupied  ten 
days ;  her  second, 
five  months.  She 
spent  the  entire  sum 
mer  among  the  sand 
bars. 

During  the  excess 
ive  drowth,  a  huge 
cat-fish,  (identical  in 
appearance  with  the 
New  England  horned 

pout,  which  in  its  na-  NAVIGATION  OP  THE  KANSAS  RIVER. 

tive  streams   seldom 

reaches  the  weight  of  one  pound,)  came  swimming  down  the  river, 
Just  opposite  Lecompton,  the  luckless  voyager  struck  a  sand-bar 


116  THE    KESULT    OF    A    MIS-STEP.  [1858. 

on  which  he  landed  high  and  dry.  He  was  captured  by  hand, 
and  found  to  weigh  one  hundred  and  seventeen  pounds.  There 
was  one  afterward  caught  in  the  Missouri,  weighing  one  hundred 
and  sixty  pounds.  But  the  former  demonstrated  that  the  Kansas 
is  not  navigable  for  catfish  in  low  water.  In  1858  however, 
there  was  an  unprecedented  freshet,  and  a  little  steamer  drawing 
eighteen  inches,  plied  upon  the  river  with  comparative  success. 
During  the  same  season,  a  party  of  fifteen  men  went  safely  down 
the  great  rivers  from  St.  Joseph,  Missouri,  to  New  Orleans  in  a 
rough  flat-boat,  propelled  by  side  wheels  driven  by  cranks ;  and 
another  party  floated  from  Omaha  to  Leaven  worth  in  a  skiff. 

Eastern  people  know  nothing  of  mud.  In  Leavenworth,  on 
the  river  bank  where  pedestrians  were  wallowing  and  drays 
plowing  through  the  mire,  which  dropped  in  streams  from  the 
wheels  and  horses'  feet,  I  saw  a  daintily  dressed  lady  and  gentle 
man  attempting  to  walk  the  plank  from  a  steamboat  to  the  land. 
It  proved  as  perilous  as  Mohammed's  single  hair  over  the  bottom 
less  gulf,  which  formed  the  bridge  to  Paradise.  When  half  way 
to  the  shore  they  both  slipped  off  and  fell  four  or  five  feet  into  the 
mud-jelly  and  there  rolled  over.  Each  arose  a  pillar  of  mud,  a 
modern  edition  of  Lot's  wife.  They  were  a  shade  darker  than  the 
Missouri  itself  which  early  explorers  called  *  the  Yellow  River '  as 
habitually  as  Roman  poets  sung  of  the  yellow  Tiber.  Old  Pactolus, 
where  sluice-mining  doubtless  originated,  was  fabled  to  run  itself  in 
golden  sands.  Were  the  Missouri's  discoloring  element  of  the 
same  material,  it  would  be  as  priceless  as  those  molten  streams 
which  pour  from  the  furnaces  in  our  public  mints. 

The  19th  of  May  is  memorable  for  the  most  revolting  deed  in 
the  blood-stained  history  of  Kansas.  It  was  done  upon  the  bank 
of  the  Marais  des  Cygnes  (marsh  of  the  swans)  river,  sixty 
miles  southeast  of  Lawrence,  and  three  west  of  the  Missouri  line. 
There  eleven  quiet  unoffending  citizens,  who  had  never  partici 
pated  in  the  troubles,  were  dragged  from  their  farms  and  work 
shops  and  shot  down  in  cold  blood — five  of  them  cruelly  murdered 
for  the  crime  of  holding  Free  State  sentiments.  The  butchers 
were  seventeen  Missouriansand  eight  Kansans,  led  by  two  wretches, 

Charles   Hamilton   and  Brockett.     They  found  nearly  all 

their  victims  unprepared  and  unresisting.     But  one  settler  named 


1858.]  BRAVE    FATHER    AND    BRAVE    SON.  117 

Snyder  successfully  repelled  them.  Hamilton  and  six  of  his  band 
rode  up  to  the  blacksmith  shop  in  which  Snyder  was  working 
and  shouted : 

'Hallo,  there!' 

Snyder,  who  had  acquired  considerable  repute  for  fearlessness, 
stepped  out  of  doors  to  find  himself  confronted  by  seven  armed 
men. 

'Now,  by  G — ,  sir,'  exclaimed  Hamilton,  *  you  are  my  prisoner  P 

Snyder,  if  unlike  'the  historic  Pickens  of  South  Carolina,  born 
insensible  to  fear,  was  at  least  difficult  to  intimidate.  He  replied : 

'  Not  yet !' 

Then  springing  back  into  the  shop  he  seized  a  shot  gun, 
and  ordered  his  boy  of  seventeen  to  run  to  the  house  after 
his  gun.  The  dwelling  was  several  rods  distant,  up  a  steep  bank, 
entirely  open  to  the  fire  of  the  ruffians.  The  son  replied : 

'Why,  father,  they  will  kill  me.' 

'  Don't  be  afraid ;  I'll  protect  you.' 

The  young  Yulcan  started  on  a  brisk  run. 

'  Stop !'  commanded  Hamilton, '  or  we'll  shoot  you  down  in  your 
tracks.' 

'  Go  on  1'  thundered  the  father,  with  his  gun  pointing  at  them  ; 
'I'll  kill  the  first  man  who  takes  aim  at  you. ' 

Snyder  was  so  prompt  that  not  one  of  the  band  raised  his  rifle 
till  the  boy  had  reached  the  house ;  then  Hamilton  suddenly  fired 
at  Snyder  but  overshot.  The  dauntless  blacksmith  immediately 
replied  with  his  gun  but  Hamilton  dropped  unharmed  behind  his 
horse,  though  the  animal  fell  dead. 

Snyder  flew  back  into  the  shop,  reloaded  and  fired,  wounding 
one  of  the  assailants,  who  now  began  to  retreat ;  then  he  also  ran 
for  the  house.  Several  shots  were  fired  after  him  and  one  took 
effect  in  his  hip.  He  dropped  behind  the  fence  and  reloaded, 
while  the  ruffians,  supposing  him  disabled,  once  more  approached. 
He  unexpectedly  rose  up  and  again  fired  among  them. 

By  this  time  the  boy  came  out  with  his  gun,  and  both  father 
and  son  took  shelter  in  a  little  grove  near  by  and  continued  to  fire 
briskly.  Like  all  men  who  despise  their  lives  they  proved  masters 
of  the  situation,  and  the  baffled  and  exasperated  murderers  retired 
to  join  their  companions. 


118  A    MOST    INHUMAN    MASSACRE.  [1858, 

The  eleven  captives  already  collected  were  taken  into  a  deep 
ravine  and  formed  into  a  line  a  few  yards  in  front  of  the  horse- 
men.  Hamilton  briefly  gave  the  commands : 

*  Present  arms.     Fire.' 

Twenty-five  rifles  and  revolvers  answered.  Every  prisoner  fell. 
Four  were  killed  and  all  but  one  of  the  rest  wounded.  The  mur 
derers  slowly  galloped  away  but  in  a  few  moments  three  returning 
kicked  and  rolled  over  the  bodies  to  see  if  they  were  dead.  As 
one  appeared  only  slightly  wounded,  one  of  the  miscreants  placed 
his  revolver  to  his  ear  and  fired  remarking : 

'  I  have  always  found  this  a  certain  shot.' 

The  ruffians  then  departed  leaving  five  men  dead,  and  six  lying 
beside  them  in  extremest  terror.  Of  .the  killed  all  were  estimable 
citizens  and  all  but  one  married.  One  of  the  survivors  was  not 
wounded  but  shrewdly  fell  with  the  rest,  and  thus  escaped. 

The  massacre,  unparalleled  upon  American  soil,  sent  a  shudder 
of  horror  through  the  North.  A  few  partisans  sought  to  palliate 
it  on  the  ground  that  Pro-slavery  settlers  also  had  been  brutally 
murdered ;  but  Hamilton  and  his  men  bearing  the  brand  of  Cain, 
became  fugitives  and  vagabonds  upon  the  earth.  Whittier's  muse, 
never  silent  when  freedom  was  wounded,  sent  forth  the  strain : 

LE  MARAIS  DU  CYGNE. 

A  blush  as  of  roses 

Where  rose  never  grew ; — 
Great  drops  on  the  bunch-grass, 

But  not  of  the  dew ; — 
A  taint  in  the  sweet  air 

For  wild  bees  to  shun — 
A  stain  that  shall  never 

Bleach  out  in  the  sun 

From  the  hearths  of  their  cabins, 

The  fields  of  their  corn, 
Unwarned  and  unweaponed, 

The  victims  were  torn, 
By  the  whirlwind  of  murder 

Swooped  up  and  swept  on 
To  the  low,  reedy  fen-landa, 

The  Marsh  of  the  Swan. 


1858.]  LE    MARAIS    DU    CYGNE.  119 

"With  a  vain  plea  for  mercy, 

No  stout  knee  was  crooked ; 
In  the  mouths  of  the  rifles 

Right  manly  they  looked. 
How  paled  the  May  sunshine, 

Green  Marais  du  Cygne, 
When  the  death-smoke  blew  over 

Thy  lonely  ravine ! 

In  the  homes  of  their  rearing, 

Yet  warm  with  their  lives, 
Ye  wait  the  dead  only, 

Poor  children  and  wives ! 
Put  out  the  red  forge-fire, 

The  smith  shall  not  come ; 
Unyoke  the  brown  oxen, 

The  plowman  lies  dumb. 

Strong  man  of  the  prairies, 

Mourn  bitter  and  wild ! 
"Wail,  desolate  woman ! 

Weep,  fatherless  child  i 
But  the  grain  of  God  springs  up 

From  ashes  beneath, 
And  the  crown  of  his  harvest 

Is  life  out  of  death. 

On  the  lintels  of  Kansas 

That  blood  shall  not  dry; 
Henceforth  the  Bad  Angel 

Shall  harmless  go  by. 
Henceforth  to  the  sunset, 

Unchecked  on  her  way, 
Shall  Liberty  Mow 

The  march  of  the  daj. 


120  A    PAKTY    OF    PEACE-MAKERS.  [1858, 


CHAPTER    X. 


THE  Marais  des  Cygnes  massacre  re-lighted  the  flames  of  civil 
war  in  Linn,  Lykins,  (now  Miami,)  and  Bourbon,  all  southeastern 
counties  of  Kansas,  bordering  upon  Missouri,  In  Linn,  James 
Montgomery,  a  Free  State  guerrilla  leader  with  many  adherents, 
drove  out  every  obnoxious  Pro-slavery  settler.  Several  times  he 
crossed  the  line  into  Bourbon,  and  attacked  Fort  Scott,  the  county 
seat.  This  Border  Kuffian  stronghold  (Bourbon  had  not  yet  been 
reclaimed  to  Free  State  rule)  contained  the  United  States  land 
office  and  was  defended  by  Federal  troops.  Twice  the  soldiers 
endeavored  to  arrest  Montgomery  j  but  he  sturdily  resisted  and  put 
them  to  flight.  All  along  the  border  there  was  no  safety  for  life 
or  property  except  in  the  strong  arm  of  violence ;  and  at  the  dis 
tance  of  fifty  miles  it  was  difficult  to  determine  whether  Mont 
gomery's  men  were  defending  their  hearths  and  making  legitimate 
reprisals  or  shedding  blood  wantonly. 

Governor  Denver  and  one  of  his  aids  on  behalf  of  the  Pro- 
slavery  party,  accompanied  by  Governor  Robinson,  Judge  John 
W.  Wright  and  other  prominent  Free  State  citizens,  made  a  tour 
through  the  disturbed  regions  endeavoring  to  promote  peace. 
With  Lewis  N.  Tappan,  Edmund  Babb,  and  other  correspondents, 
I  accompanied  these  peace  commissioners. 

June  9. — Left  Lawrence  in  a  drenching  rain,  riding  over  a  great 
expanse  of  green,  smiling  with  countless  flowers.  Little  mounds, 
-  five  or  six  inches  high,  abound,  thrown  up  by  the  gopher  in  dig 
ging  his  hole.  The  rosin-weed  or  compass-plant  is  also  plentiful, 
its  leaves  always  pointing  north  and  south.  Both  the  mounds  and 
the  plant  are  unfailing  indications  of  rich  soil. 

Beyond  the  Waukarusa  we  found  one  solitary  '  black-jack '  (oak.) 


1858.]  BEFORE    A    COMFORTABLE    FIRE.  121 

In  Missouri  there  is  a  flourishing  town  named  Lone  Jack  from  a 
tree  of  this  species  whose  pleasant  shade  and  a  cool  spring  at  its 
roots,  made  it  a  favorite  camping-place  for  early  travelers. 

At  night  we  sought  refuge  from  a  thunder  storm  in  the  hospi 
table  log  house  of  Ottawa  Jones,  a  Pottawatomie  half-breed,  edu 
cated  and  bearing  no  appearance  of  Indian  extraction.  His  white 
wife  was  a  native  of  Maine.  Both  had  been  adopted  into  the 
Ottawa  tribe,  and  he  was  a  chief  of  the  band.  For  his  Free  State 
sympathies  the  Border  Ruffians  had  burned  his  house,  whose  black 
ened  ruins  were  standing  a  few  yards  from  the  present  dwelling. 

June  10. — Still  raining.  With  difficulty  we  crossed  the  large 
stream,  in  Missouri  called  the  Osage,  and  in  Kansas  the  Marais  des 
Cygnes.  The  former  is  from  a  tribe  of  Indians  along  the  bank, 
• — the  latter  was  given  by  early  French  explorers.  Passed  beds  of 
the  wild  onion  many  acres  in  extent.  'Chicago'  is  an  Indian  name 
for  this  plant.  Stopped  to  ask  about  roads  at  a  white  farm  house 
where  we  found  water  a  foot  deep  on  the  dirt  floor,  and  two  for 
lorn  bachelors  who  assured  us  that  they  were  compelled  to  tie 
down  their  cooking  stove  to  keep  it  from  floating  off;  and  that 
they  slept  very  comfortably  at  night  sailing  about  the  room  upon 
a  raft ! 

In  Franklin  county  we  halted  at  Ohio  City,  containing  four  or 
five  houses.  In  old  England  only  cathedral  towns  are  cities ;  in 
Hew  England  only  incorporated  towns  ;  but  in  the  ambitious  West 
any  thing  is  a  city  from  a  board -pile  upward. 

Ohio  City  boasted  a  hotel  where  we  spent  the  night,  as  effectually 
bound  by  the  water  as  was  Victor  Hugo's  pioneer  steamer  Du- 
rande  by  the  the  rocks  upon  which  it  perched  high  and  dry.  We 
could  not  go  forward,  for  the  creeks  were  impassable ;  we  could 
not  turn  back  for  the  Marais  des  Cygnes,  swollen  since  we  crossed, 
Was  no  longer  fordable.  So  we  spent  the  evening  drying  before 
the  tavern  fire,  while  our  landlord  gave  his  loquacity  free  course 
to  run  and  be  glorified, — 

1  And  skilled  in  legendary  lore, 
The  lingering  hours  beguiled.' 

From  him  we  learned  that,  a  few  days  before,  a  constable  with 
four  assistants  attempted  to  take  a  yoke  of  oxen  and  a  wagon 


122 


A    NIGHT    AT    OSAWATTOMIE. 


[1858. 


from  a  neighboring  farmer  on  an  execution.  The  man  offered  no 
resistance,  but  his  wife  first  gave  the  officer  a  '  piece  of  her  mind,* 
and  then  drove  the  entire  posse  from  the  premises  with  a  Colt's 
revolver.  It  was  one  woman  against  the  Territory  of  Kansas,  and 
that  woman  triumphed. 

June  11. — Still  raining.  While  fording  the  first '  creek  Gover 
nor  Eobinson's  whiffletree  broke,  and  the  horses  sprang  to  the 
shore  leaving  his  vehicle  in  the  middle  of  the  stream,  The  gov 
ernor  leaped  into  the  current  and  bore  Judge  Wright  upon  his 
back  to  the 
bank  amid 
shouts  of 
laughter  from 
the  other  car 
riages.  After 
all  the  jests 
about  Kansas 
governors  sel 
dom  being  tee 
totalers,  and 
getting  into 
hot  water  of- 
tener  than 
cold,  and 
the  execu 
tive  support 
ing  the  judi 
ciary,  had 

been  duly  delivered,  and  the  fracture  repaired  with  ropes,  we  con 
tinued  on  to  Osawattomie  where  we  halted  for  the  night. 

In  1856,  after  a  gallant  defense  by  old  John  Brown  and  thirty 
men,  this  town  was  burned  to  the  ground  by  three  hundred'  Mis- 
sourians ;  but  it  had  sprung  up  again,  and  now  contained  a  hun 
dred  houses.  Brown  was  now  absent  from  the  Territory,  but  we 
heard  many  legends  of  the  old  hero  and  his  seven  sons,  all  of 
whom  handled  their  Sharpe's  rifles  with  fearlessness  and  accuracy, 
and  constituted  quite  a  little  army. 

A  Pro-slavery  resident  was  popularly  known  as  '  Bogus  Wil- 


THE  EXECUTIVE  SUPPORTING   THE  JUDICIARY. 


1858.]  BOTH    SIDES    OF    THE    QUESTION.  123 

liams '  to  distinguish  him  from  a  Free  State  namesake  who  did 
not  recognize  the  bogus  laws.  The  Osawattomites  would  have 
appreciated  the  confusion  of  the  French  critic  who  described  Wil 
liam  Shakespeare  as  *  the  divine  Williams  V  Before  our  arrival 
some  of  Montgomery's  men  had  robbed  Williams  the  spurious,  and 
warned  him  to  leave  the  Territory.  But  Montgomery,  learning 
that  their  victim  was  a  peaceful  citizen  who  had  no  affiliation  with 
murderers  like  Hamilton  and  Brockett,  restored  the  property  and 
charged  his  followers  to  molest  ELO  man  whose  acts  were  not  ob 
noxious,  for  opinion's  sake. 

Of  course  the  arrival  of  our  party  was  the  signal  for  a  meeting. 
The  expectant  citizens  gathered  in  front  of  the  hotel  and  demanded 
speeches.  The  two  governors  and  Judge  Wright  gratified  them, 
indulging  in  some  denunciations  of  lawlessness  in  general  and  of 
Montgomery  in  particular. 

This  was  warring  upon  the  Douglas  in  his  native  highlands. 
Charles  Foster,  a  resident  next  called  out,  defended  the  partisan 
leader  and  was  vociferously  applauded. 

Our  landlady — from  Ohio, — admitted  us  to  her  confidences  to 
the  extent  of  assuring  us  that  her  husband  had  been  a  democrat; 
but  the  burning  of  the  town  by  the  Border  Euffians,  had  singed  his 
pockets,  and  transformed  him  into  a  radical  abolitionist.  For  her 
own  part  she  declared  herself  'a  Montgomery  man,'  and  expressed 
the  rnild  hope  that  Governor  Denver  might  be  drowned  if  he 
should  attempt  to  harm  that  popular  chieftain. 

June  12. — While  we  were  constructing  a  raft  of  planks  and 
skiffs  for  crossing  the  swollen  Pottawatomie,  Pat  Devlin,  a  young 
Irishman,  in  the  apparent  costume  of  a  model  artiste,  holding  his 
clothing  and  Sharpe's  rifle  high  above  his  head,  swam  his  fine 
gray  horse  across  the  stream.  Then  he  re-dressed,  gave  a  vig 
orous  whoop  and  galloped  out  of  sight. 

Wm.  Hairgrove,  a  Georgian  fifty-eight  years  of  age  returning 
homeward,  has  accompanied  us  from  Lawrence.  He  carries  in  his 
breast  four  bullets  received  from  Hamilton's  party  in  the  Marais 
des  Cygnes  massacre.  His  beard  is  long  and  grizzly,  for  he  has 
not  shaved  since  the  day  of  the  tragedy,  and  swears  that  he  never 
will  until  all  the  criminals  are  under  the  sod. 

Hamilton  who  led  the  cut- throats  is  also  a  Georgian,  and  Hair- 


124  A    SIMPLE,    TOUCHING    STORY.  [1858. 

grove  once  aided  in  electing  his  father  to  the  legislature  of  that 
State. 

Most  of  the  farmers  along  our  road,  are  working  in  the  fields 
with  their  rifles  near  them  and  scouts  posted  on  the  roads.  They 
all  defend  Montgomery. 

At  night  in  a  drenching  rain  we  reached  Moneka.  While  I 
was  drying  my  dripping  garments  before  the  kitchen  fire,  a  little 
girl  of  five  or  six  years  with  eyes  like  sunbeams,  and  a  shower 
of  golden  ringlets,  was  playing  beside  me.  She  was  soon  won 
to  a  seat  on  my  knee  and  began  to  prattle  freely  of  her  play 
things,  her  playfellows,  and  the  other  treasures  of  childhood. 

Would  I  take  her  to  ride  in  my  buggy? 

Yes,  if  she  would  go  home  with  me. 

*  O,  I  can't ;  I  can't  leave  my  ma.' 
' Why  not?' 

*  Because  she  is  alone — all  alone.' 
1  Where  is  your  father  ?' 

'  My  paTs  dead.     The  Missourians  killed  him.' 

1  Why  did  they  kill  him?1 

1  Because  they  were  bad  men  and  he  wasn't  a  Missourian.  They 
came  to  our  house  and  took  him  away,  and  shot  him  dead.  Was'nt 
that  too  bad  ?  I  can't  go  home  with  you,  because  I'm  afraid  the 
Missourians  will  come  and  get  my  ma.  You  don't  think  they'll 
kill  her,  too,  do  you  ?' 

The  little  prattler  was  indeed  the  child  of  one  of  the  butchered 
citizens.  Her  mother  had  taken  temporary  refuge  in  the  hotel. 
She  was  a  modest,  pleasing  young  woman,  and  told  her  sad  story 
very  artlessly : 

1  My  husband  was  sitting  in  the  house  with  me,  when  we  saw 
the  murderers  coming.  I  begged  him  to  go  away  where  they 
could  not  find  him;  for  after  the  threats  which  had  been  made,  I 
feared  they  would  kill  him.  But  he  was  very  firm,  and  would  not 
go.  He  had  done  nothing  he  said,  that  he  should  sneak  off  and 
hide  like  a  dog ;  if  he  was  to  die,  he  would  stay  and  die  like  a 
man.  *  *  *  We  were  poor,  but  we  were  living  very  happily 
together  on  our  claim.  When  I  felt  lonely,  I  used  to  take  my 
work  out  and  remain  with  my  husband  in  the  field.  Now  the 
world  is  all  dark,  and  I  have  nobody  to  go  to  for  sympathy  or 
advice.' 


1858.] 


THE    GREAT    GUERRILLA    CHIEFTAIN. 


125 


June  13. — Found  all  the  settlers  justifying  the  *  Jayhawkers,'  a 
name  universally  applied  to  Montgomery's  men,  from  the  celerity 
of  their  movements  and  their  habit  of  suddenly  pouncing  upon 
an  enemy.  Nearly  all  the  citizens  under  arms,  to  defend  their 
homes  and  if  possible  ferret  out  and  punish  the  Marais  des  Cyg- 
nes  murderers.  They  were  commanded  by  E.  B.  Mitchell,  then  a 
conservative  member  of  the  Kansas  legislature;  afterward  a 
major  general  in  the  Union  army.  Their  search  was  unsuccessful ; 
|for  the  cut-throats  had  fled  to  Arizona  and  the  Indian  country. 

Of  course  in  the  eye  of  the  law  Montgomery  was  a  criminal 
and  a  freebooter.  At  breakfast  this  morning  I  asked  Mitchell, 

1  Will  Montgomery  show  himself  now  the  governor  is  here  ?' 

( No ;  he  is  too  wary  for  that.' 

But  just  as  we  were  starting,  the  famed  leader  accompanied  by 
only  two  men  rode  up  and  halted  within  a  few  feet  of  our  carriage. 
Here  he  was  at  last — the  guerrilla  chieftain,  whose  name  was  in 
every  man's  mouth  throughout  Kansas  and  the  neighboring  States. 
He  was  about  forty  years  old, 
lightly  built,  with  thin  Koman 
nose,  light  blue  eyes  and  straight 
hair,  then  parting  in  the  middle, 
which  gave  him  a  certain  resem 
blance  to  John  C.  Fremont.  The 
people  greeted  him  with  cheers, 
and  one  citizen  remarked  to  our 
party : 

'Now  you  can  judge  of  the 
estimation  in  which  we  hold  Mont 
gomery.  Even  the  conservative 
Free  State  men,  who  censured  him 
before  the  massacre,  now  regard 

him  as  their  protector  and  champion.     Were  any  attempt  made  to 
arrest  him,  the  entire  population  of  the  county  would  resist  it. 

When  we  started  on,  Montgomery  rode  beside  our  carriage  for 
several  miles,  talking  modestly  but  freely  in  a  voice  as  low  and 
musical  as  that  for  which  Alexander  Pope  was  termed  '  the  little 
nightingale.'  He  was  a  native  of  Kentucky,  where  he  had  been 
a  school-teacher  and  an  exhorter  in  the  Methodist  church.  He 


JAMES  MONTGOMERY. 


126  ONE    OF    HIS    DEVOTED    ADHERENTS.  [1858. 

was  a  peculiarly  entertaining  conversationalist  and  seemed  more 
familiar  with  the  geology  of  Kansas  than  any  other  man  I  had 
met.  To  our  questions  about  his  own  exploits,  he  replied  diffi 
dently  that  he  had  been  compelled  to  organize  a  guerilla  company 
to  protect  himself  and  his  neighbors.  He  continued : 

'Now  a  guerrilla  company,  to  be  effective,  must  be  self-sustain 
ing — must  subsist  on  the  enemy.  Therefore  we  feed  ourselves  at 
Pro-slavery  larders  and  our  horses  at  Pro-slavery  corn-cribs.' 

To  our  queries  about  his  residence,  he  answered : 

'  I  live  with  my  wife  and  five  children,  in  a  very  good  log  house. 
I  did'nt  erect  it  myself;  a  gentleman  from  Missouri  built  it;  but 
soon  after,  he  was  unexpectedly  compelled  to  leave  the  country, 
and  so  I  have  taken  possession  until  he  returns.' 

Which  meant  that  he  had  driven  out  some  Pro-slavery  citizen 
and  occupied  his  dwelling.  It  was  safe  to  presume  that  the 
former  occupant  would  never  come  back. 

His  daring  was  beyond  question  and  no  one  doubted  his  purity 
from  mercenary  motives.  He  was  that  most  formidable  of  char 
acters  :  a  praying  fighter.  He  held  daily  religious  worship  in  his 
family  and  was  reported  very  amiable  and  just  in  private  life. 
Quiet,  modest  and  silver-tongued,  he  was  indeed 

'  The  mildest-mannered  man 
That  ever  scuttled  ship  or  cut  a  throat.' 

But  his  eye  had  the  uneasy  glare  peculiar  to  hunted  men,  and  his 
hollow  laugh  aroused  the  constant  and  unpleasant  suggestion  of  a 
mind  diseased. 

Beside  him  rode  Pat  Devlin,  the  young  Irishman  who  crossed 
the  creek  yesterday  in  such  breathless  haste.  He  had  heard  a  re 
port  that  Governor  Denver  was  about  to  arrest  Montgomery  and 
hastened  on  to  give  him  warning.  Devlin  was  one  of  his  follow 
ers,  actuated  partly  by  hatred  of  the  Border  Euffians,  partly  by  na 
tive  recklessness.  In  a  future  chapter  we  shall  see  how  this 
pitcher  which  went  often  to  the  well  was  at  last  broken. 

During  the  day  we  were  stopped  by  scouts  again  and  again. 
We  arrived  at  Lebanon  where  Governor  Denver  addressed  the 
people,  urging  them  to  settle  all  future  difficulties  through  the 
ballot-box  and  courts.  He  left  instantly  after  speaking  and  then 


1858.]     'CATCHING  A  TARTAR'  ILLUSTRATED.          127 

Montgomery,  called  out  by  the  meeting,  promised  that  he  would 
make  no  trouble  if  the  courts  were  purified  and  the  laws  justly 
administered. 

Finding  the  Marmaton  dangerous  to  ford,  we  left  our  horses 
and  vehicles  on  the  north  bank  and  crossed  in  a  skiff  to  Fort 
Scott,  the  county  seat  of  Bourbon.  This  was  originally  a  military 
post  to  guard  the  Missouri  frontier,  but  the  Government  recently 
abandoned  it  and  sold  the  buildings  to  private  parties.  Now  it  is 
the  most  important  town  in  southern  Kansas.  The  old  barracks 
with  their  ample  windows,  deep  porticoes,  fronting  the  public 
square,  and  stately  shade  trees,  give  it  an  air  of  age  and  comfort, 
very  unusual  upon  the  frontier. 

We  find  all  business  suspended  on  account  of  the  troubles. 
In  this  most  violent  Pro-slavery  settlement,  even  the  courts  of  jus 
tice  have  long  been  controlled  by  criminals  and  desperadoes  who 
have  used  them  to  gratify  political  revenge,  and  frequently  called 
out  United  States  troops  to  enforce  their  processes.  Here  Brock- 
ett  and  several  of  the  other  Marais  des  Cygnes  murderers  resided, 
until  their  last  atrocious  deed  compelled  them  to  fly  from  the 
Territory. 

Montgomery  lives  twenty  miles  distant.  For  months  the  Bor 
der  Kuffian  authorities  have  held  processes  for  his  arrest  and  fre 
quently  called  out  a  large  force  of  Federal  dragoons  to  arrest 
him.  But  only  a  few  nights  ago  he  attacked  the  town,  riddled 
the  principal  buildings  with  rifle-balls,  and  attempted  to  burn 
them.  But  a  violent  rain  set  in  extinguishing  the  flames,  and  the 
little  band  withdrew  unmolested,  though  their  assault  was  made 
within  fifty  yards  of  an  encampment  of  three  hundred  United 
States  troops,  supported  by  a  section  of  artillery. 

Several  months  ago,  the  county  prosecuting  attorney  mounted 
upon  a  showy  white  horse,  led  a  posse  for  Montgomery's  arrest. 
The  guerrilla  leader,  not  only  routed  the  party,  but  like  a  new 
Thomas  a  Becket,  captured  the  officer's  steed  and  has  been  riding 
it  ever  since.  Indeed  he  was  mounted  upon  it  yesterday  while 
accompanying  our  party.  Later  the  county  sheriff  with  a  large 
force  likewise  went  out  to  arrest  the  great  guerrilla,  the  officer 
riding  a  fine  spotted  mule.  Montgomery's  rifles  easily  dispersed 
this  second  party.  The  sheriff  was  glad  to  find  his  way  back  on 


123  A    MOMENT    OF    EXCITEMENT.  [1858. 

foot ;  and  the  partisan  captain  presented  the  captured  mule  to  one 
of  his  lieutenants,  who  still  retains  it  as  a  trophy. 

This  afternoon,  a  peace  convention  of  three  hundred  was  held 
on  the  public  square.  Governor  Denver,  Governor  Eobinson  and 
Judge  Wright  addressed  it  from  the  hotel  piazza,  urging  honest 
men  of  both  parties  to  unite  hereafter  in  putting  down  violence 
and  sustaining  the  legal  administration  of  justice.  They  were  fol 
lowed  by  Epaphroditus  Eansom,  a  tall,  herculean,  gray -haired  ex- 
governor  of  Michigan,  who  under  appointment  of  President  Bu^ 
chanan  now  holds  a  lucrative  position  in  the  United  States  land 
office  here.  Eansom  began  moderately,  but  soon  plunged  into  a 
violent  Pro-slavery  address.  Among  other  intemperate  state 
ments,  he  declared  that  Free  State  men  had  originated  the  difficult 
ies  and  committed  all  the  outrages.  Judge  Wright  of  our  party, 
as  old  as  Eansom  and  quite  as  hot-blooded,  instantly  sprang  up 
in  front  of  the  speaker  and  exclaimed : 

*  It  is  false,  sir,  totally  false  !' 

Eansom  retorted  by  giving  him  the  lie;  and  for  a  few  seconds 
the  two  aged  men  faced  each  other  defiantly. 

From  the  speakers'  stand,  I  glanced  down  upon  the  assemblage. 
Instinctively,  as  by  the  law  of  gravitation,  the  auditors  fell  apart 
into  two  bodies,  separated  only  by  a  space  of  eight  or  ten  feet. 
For  an  instant,  there  was  breathless  silence,  then  the  air  was  rent 
with  the  shouts : 

'  It's  true !'     '  It's  false !'     '  It's  a  d— d  lie  !' 

A  few  raised  their  rifles,  and  shot  guns.  The  rest  drew  revol 
vers  from  their  belts,  and  on  every  side  was  heard  the  sharp  click, 
click,  click  of  the  cocking  weapons. 

The  speakers'  platform,  containing  thirty  or  forty  persons  of 
both  parties,  presented  a  similar  scene.  Eevolvers  were  drawn, 
threats  exchanged,  and  Governor  Eobinson,  the  mildest  of  con 
servatives,  stood  close  behind  Eansom  with  clinched  fists  ready  to 
hurl  him  down  the  steps  the  moment  hostilities  should  begin. 
All  this  occurred  almost  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye ;  and  a  bloody 
fight  seemed  inevitable.  But  just  at  this  moment  Governor  Den 
ver  who  was  in  the  hotel  parlor  conversing  with  a  party  of  ladies, 
heard  the  tumult,  rushed  out,  sprang  between  Eansom  and 
Wright  and  commanded  the  peace. 


1858.]  UNITING    TO    KEEP    THE    PEACE.  129 

'Fellow  citizens,' said  he,  'is  this  the  way  to  reconciliation? 
How  can  order  be  restored  if  all  these  old  sores  are  to  be  re-opened.' 
Both  these  gentlemen  are  my  seniors  but  I  must  censure  them. 
They  should  not  let  passion  run  away  with  reason.  We  came  to 
promote  harmony ;  let  us  have  no  more  of  these  disgraceful  scenes.' 

This  restored  quiet;  there  were  apologies  and  conciliatory 
speeches  and  then  the  meeting  adjourned. 

June  15. — Governor  Denver  has  removed  the  obnoxious  county 
officers,  and  appointed  good  unpartisan  citizens  to  fill  their  places. 

To-day  both  parties  signed  a  written  agreement  hereafter  to 
avoid  intemperate  language,  obey  the  laws  and  discountenance 
violence.  Both  seem  thoroughly  weary  of  the  reign  of  disorder. 

June  16. — Left  Fort  Scott  this  morning,  going  north  within  two 
or  three  miles  of  the  Missouri  line.  The  country  is  dotted  with 
conical  mounds  from  fifty  to  a  hundred  feet  high.  Nearly  all  the 
houses  are  deserted.  At  one  cabin  I  found  a  young  Scotch  couple 
surrounded  by  evidences  of  their  national  industry  and  thrift. 
Nearly  all  their  neighbors  had  been  frightened  away.  The  girlish 
wife  had  corne  alone  from  the  far  Highlands,  across  the  sea  and 
over  the  land,  to  fulfill  her  plighted  troth ;  for  her  lover  emigrated 
five  years  before  her. 

The  next  occupied  house  had  but  one  apartment,  and  contained 
only  an  old  German  who  had  apparently  forgotten  his  own  lan 
guage  and  never  learned  any  other.  Sitting  upon  a  box  he  was 
bathing  a  sore  knee  from  a  tin  cup.  Our  colloquy  was  brief: 

'  A  warm  day,  sir.' 

'Ya,  saer  varm.' 

*  Do  you  live  here  all  alone  ?' 
'Ya,  mein  herr.' 

*  Where  is  your  family. 

'Ah,  mein  vife  dead.     Mein  sons  go  off,  get  claims.' 

'Are  you  not  afraid  of  the  Missourians  ?' 

'Oh!'  (shrugging  his  shoulders,)  'Misshourian  bad  man — kill 
Free-shlave  man.  I  shtop  door — fasten,'  (pointing  to  the  door-bar,) 
'let  him  nicht  in.  If  he  come,  den,'  (showing  his  double-bar 
reled  gun,)  'I  shoot!' 

'  Good !     Now  father  Gambrinus  have  you  any  cool  water  ?' 

'Vater?     Oh-,  ya.1 


130  AN    ADDBESS    BY    MONTGOMERY.  [1858,, 

And  the  ancient  Teuton  deliberately  emptied  his  cup,  filled  it 
from  a  bucket  and  offered  us  a  draught  I  We  adjourned  our  thirst 
to  the  next  brook,  and  bade  him  good  morning. 

Beyond,  two  sentinels  armed  with  Sharpens  rifles,  stopped  us, 
but  learning  that  we  were  friends,  took  us  to  the  Free  State  camp 
of  twenty-five  men  whose  scouts  were  out  for  miles  north  and 
south,  guarding  the  Missouri  line.  We  crossed  the  Marais  des 
Cygnes  and  spent  the  night  at  *  Trading  Post,'  a  little  cluster  of 
houses,  two  miles  from  the  nineteenth-of-May  tragedy. 

June  17. — This  morning  we  visited  the  scene  of  the  massacre, 
finding  nearly  all  houses  in  the  vicinity  deserted.  Our  old  friend, 
Mr.  Hairgrove,  one  of  the  fortunate  who  escaped  with  wounds, 
showed  us  the  several  dwellings  from  which  the  victims  were 
taken  and  the  dark  ravine  where  the  foul  murder  was  committed. 
We  also  visited  the  rough  little  shop  where  the  blacksmith,  Sny- 
der,  made  such  gallant  resistance.  In  the  afternoon,  a  meeting  of 
several  hundred  settlers  was  addressed  by  Denver,  Eobinson, 
Wright  and  Montgomery.  Denver  appointed  new  township  offi 
cers  and  both  parties  signed  a  pledge  similar  to  that  given  at  Fort 
Scott.  Montgomery  promised,  if  the  agreement  now  made  were 
kept,  to  lay  down  his  arms,  and  devote  himself  to  his  cattle  and 
corn-fields.  His  remarks  were  manly  and  eloquent.  He  said : 

*  I  have  accepted  the  olive  branch.  To-day  I  come  from  home 
without  my  rifle — the  first  time  for  months.  I  have  been  charged 
with  foulest  crimes ;  but  you  all  know  my  acts.  I  have  done  noth 
ing  under  a  bushel.  If  any  man  asserts  that  I  have  disturbed  one 
peaceable  citizen,  I  deny  the  charge  and  defy  the  proof.  If  any  as 
sert  that  I  have  abused  or  insulted  a  woman,  I  deny  the  charge  and 
defy  the  proof.  I  have  said  I  never  would  be  tried  at  Fort  Scott, 
and  I  never  will.  No  Free  State  man  could  hope  for  justice  there. 
But  I  trust  we  are  now  to  have  honest  courts  in  our  own  county. 
If  so,  I  pledge  my  honor  to  answer  promptly  any  indictment.  I 
will  obey  every  legal  process ;  stand  my  trial  and  abide  the  issue.' 

We  returned  to  Lawrence,  and  for  a  few  months  there  was  quiet 
in  southeastern  Kansas.  Montgomery  became  a  peaceful  citizen. 
In  1862,  I  met  him  again — serving  as  colonel  of  a  Kansas  regi 
ment  in  the  Union  army.  His  eye  had  become  healthy,  and  he 
had  lost  his  hollow  jarring  laugh. 


1858.]  FEMININE    SMOKERS    OF    TOBACCO.  131 


CHAPTER    XI. 


I  'ASSISTED'  at  a  rural  celebration  of  the  Fourth  of  July  in  the 
village  of  Monrovia,  Atchison  county.  The  adjacent  settlers 
came  thronging  in  on  horseback,  on  foot,  and  in  heavy  ox- wagons, 
sitting  upon  rush-bottomed  chairs.  One  family  even  rode  triumph 
antly  on  a  stone  drag, — a  broad  plank  dragged  over  the  ground 
by  two  horses. 

Speeches  were  made  in  the  open  air,  and  the  young  people  en 
tertained  themselves  by  dancing  most  perseveringly  from  Friday 
night  until  Sunday  morning. 

In  the  midst  of  the  assembly  sat  an  elderly  matron  in  decorous 
black,  patiently  listening  and  smoking  a  cigar.  While  traveling 
in  Missouri,  I  have  seen  a  mother  and  her  little  girl  of  ten  years, 
smoking  their  pipes  over  the  breakfast  they  were  cooking.  Once, 
stopping  to  spend  the  night  with  an  intelligent  young  squatter 
from  Tennessee,  I  found  his  wife  a  lovely  blonde  with  liquid 
eyes  and  long  drooping  lashes ;  but  alas !  after  serving  tea,  she 
drew  from  one  of  the  smoky  nooks  of  the  chimney  an  old  black 
pipe,  and  sat  down  to  enjoy  an  evening  whiff. 

During  this  summer  and  fall,  fever  and  ague  visited  almost 
every  farm-house.  The  disease  is  inevitable  wherever  a  rich  soil 
is  broken  for  the  first  time,  loading  the  air  with  miasma.  Fruit 
and  fresh  vegetables  are  good  preventives ;  quinine  the  invari 
able  remedy.  With  ordinary  care  blondes  may  avoid  it,  but 
brunettes,  being  of  more  bilious  temperament,  rarely  escape.  Be 
fore  attacking  it  gives  forewarning  in  blinding  headaches  and 
nauseous  mouths.  The  ounce  of  prevention  is  cheap,  the  pound 
of  cure  costly ;  for  if  lodged  in  the  system  it  clings  tenaciously. 
An  old  settler  in  the  Wabash  valley  of  Indiana  once  told  me 
that  he  had  suffered  from  it  every  season  for  twenty-seven 


132  FEVER    AND    AGUE    EXPERIENCES.  [1858. 

years.  Still  he  not  only  clung  to  his  cot  but  thought  the  valley 
he  loved,  a  very  Eden.  Nearly  all  western  States  cherish  legends 
of  remote  villages  where  the  church  bells  are  rung  every  day  at 
noon  for  the  people  to  take  their  quinine.  But  though  the  traveler 
is  often  told  that  chills  and  fever  abound  in  the  next  settlement, 
he  never  finds  a  section  which  the  inhabitants  admit  to  be  an 
'  ague  country.' 

Kansas  has  no  swarnps  and  little  bottomland.  But  most  of  the 
early  settlers  (Missourians)  regarded  this  disease  as  a  necessary 
evil.  I  remember  a  matron  from  Kentucky,  pale  and  wan  from 
years  of  its  enervating  and  dispiriting  attacks,  who  said : 

'  I  have  been  chilling  now  for  two  months  and  I  never  seen  a 
well  day  in  Kansas.  A  freestone  country  is  never  so  healthy  as 
a  limestone  country,  anyhow.' 

The  invalid  favored  me  with  this  oracular  utterance  late  in  the 
evening  while  indulging  in  a  hearty  supper  of  hot  corn  bread  and 
molasses,  fat  pork  and  strong  coffee ! 

In  Kansas  one  heard  the  slang  and  provincialisms  of  every  sec 
tion  of  the  country,  beside  some  indigenous  to  the  soil.  The  im 
portations  were  chiefly  from  Missouri,  which  had  furnished  more 
than  half  the  entire  population.  Most  readers  have  heard  Ohioans 
spoken  of  as  'Buckeyes,'  (from  the  buckeye  tree,)  Illinoians  as 
'  Suckers,' Indiamans  as 'Hoosiers,'  and  Michiganders  as  'Wol 
verines.'  Early  Californians  christened  as  '  Pukes '  the  immigrants 
from  Missouri,  declaring  that  they  had  been  vomited  forth  from 
that  prolific  State.  And  however  shocking  to  ears  polite,  the 
appellation  has  adhered  to  them  ever  since.  Missourians  trans 
planted  into  Kansas  many  of  their  pet  home-phrases.  One  morn 
ing  at  breakfast  a  squatter  host  of  mine  remarked  : 

'  These  molasses  is  sweeter  than  any  maple  molasses  I  ever 
seen.' 

This  unique  use  of  the  national  saccharine  only  in  the  plural, 
not  uncommon  through  the  Southwest,  originated  in  Pennsylvania. 
I  heard  another  Missourian  reply  to  inquiries  touching  his  health  : 

'  I  had  the  shakes  last  week,  but  now  I  have  got  shut  of  them.' 

A  third,  asked  concerning  his  crop  of  corn,  responded : 

*  Yes,  I  raised  a  power  of  it.  I  have  fed  a  heap  to  my  cattle 
and  got  a  right  smart  chance  left.' 


1858.]  PERPLEXING    USAGES    OF    WORDS.  133 

Still  another  with  the  prevalent  contempt  for  small  estates,  told 
me  with  great  merriment  about  a  traveler  from  Ohio  who  had 
only  thirty  acres  of  land,  and  actually  called  that  a  farm  !  It 
was  the  one  memorable  jest  in  that  Missourian's  experience,  and 
I  am  confident  he  never  mentions  it  to  this  day  without  roars  of 
laughter. 

'  Tolerable '  is  forced  into  universal  service.  Once  in  Missouri 
I  asked  a  fellow  traveler : 

'  Is  it  a  good  road  from  here  to  St.  Joseph  V 

I  Tolerable  good,  sir.7 

It  proved  intolerably  bad.  Just  afterward  meeting  a  teamster, 
I  changed  the  form  of  the  question,  thus  : 

'A  bad  road  from  here  to  St.  Joseph,  is  it  not?' 

*  Tolerable  bad,  stranger.' 

Next  encountering  a  little  darkey  with  staring  white  eyes,  I  in 
quired  : 

*  Is  it  a  straight  road  from  here  to  St.  Joseph  ?' 

'Tolerable  straight  massa,'  replied  young  Ebony,  displaying 
from  ear  to  ear  a  row  of  ivory.  The  same  evening,  at  a  country 
inn,  I  heard  a  wayfarer  ask : 

4  Can  I  get  to  stay  with  you  to-night . 

I 1  reckon,'   answered    Boniface,    '  though  we  are  right  smart 
crowded.'     And  before  our  evening  fire  he  spoke  of  a  swelling 
upon  his  knee  as  *  a  rising.' 

A  school  girl  in  Kansas  asked  her  playmates  from  Missouri,- — 

*  Will  you  go  a  berrying  with  me  ?' 
'A  burying!     Why  who's  dead?' 

*  Nobody  :  I  mean,  to  gather  blackberries.' 

Rural  Missourians  never  carried  burdens,  but  always  '  packed* 
or  '  toted '  them.  Among  other  provincialisms  through  the 
Southwest,  the  use  of  ( crapped '  (a  corruption  of  cropped,)  is 
sometimes  droll  and  startling.  General  Marcy  tells  of  an  Arkan- 
san  who,  pointing  to  a  little  man  with  a  huge  wife,  inquired  : 

*  Cap,  don't  you  reckon  that  that  thar  little  man  has  a  bit  over 
crapped  his  self?' 

The  use  of  '  beef  as  the  singular  of  '  beeves,'  obsolete  through 
the  East,  is  common — the  western  farmer  usually  saying,  *  I  have 
just  sold  a  beef.' 


134  MYSTERIOUS  SLANG  PHRASES  INTERPRETED.  [1858. 

The  New  Eriglander  shouts  to  a  distant  friend : 

'  Hallo a,  John  1'     The  southerner  or  westerner  cries : 

O-o-o-o,  John  I' 

Immigrants  from  the  East  were  very  merry  at  the  expense  of 
their  Missouri  neighbors.  In  a  street  discussion  a  lounger  was 
defending  as  correct,  the  rural  southern  phrases, — '  We  'uns '  and 
*  You  'uns.'  One  of  the  bystanders  asked  him : 

'Are  you  a  grammarian?' 

*  Which  ?'  was  his  bewildered  inquiry. 

'Are  you  a  grammarian  ?' 

'  Why,  no,  I'm  a  Missourian  I' 

It  was  a  distinction  with  a  difference.  But  the  fun  is  not  all  on 
one  side.  I  remember  an  old  Missourian  who  was  brought  in 
contact  with  many  eastern  men  by  the  establishment  of  a  new 
stage  line  through  his  neighborhood.  Said  he : 

'I've  lived ,on  the  frontier  all  my  life.  I  know  English  and 
the  sign-language,  and  have  picked  up  a  smattering  of  French, 
Spanish,  Choctaw,  and  Delaware ;  but  one  language  I  can't 
understand,  and  that  is  this  infernal  New  York  language !' 

One  frequently  heard  the  senseless  phrase :  *  Not  by  a  dog- 
on-d  sight/  or  '  I  wanted  to  go  dog-on-d  badly ' — meaning  '  a  great 
sight '  and  '  very  badly.'  From  Minnesota  had  been  imported  the 
mysterious  term  *  scull-duggery,'  used  to  signify  political  or  other 
trickery.  One  often  heard,  even  from  educated  men  remarks  like 
this: 

Do  you  see  Smith  and  Brown  whispering  there  in  the  corner? 
They  are  up  to  some  scull-duggery.' 

Another  and  more  significant  barbarism  is  c  the  dead  wood,' — 
from  the  game  of 'ten-pins,'  in  which  a  fallen  pin  sometimes  lies  in 
front  of  the  standing  ohes  so  that  the  first  ball  striking  it  will 
sweep  the  alley.  '  I  have  the  dead  wood  on  him  '  was  used  fami 
liarly,  meaning:  '  I  have  him  in  my  power.'  '  I  have  him  corraledj 
originating  in  New  Mexico  and  California  from  the  Spanish  corral 
or  cattle-yard,  bore  exactly  the  same  signification.  '  Scooped ' 
was  an  importation  from  Wall  Street.  '  I  am  badly  scooped ' 
meant:  'I  am  used  up'  or  'defeated.'  'Bursted'  sometimes  ap 
peared  even  in  print  as  the  past  tense  of  '  burst.' 

In  his  instructive  Notes  on  the  English  Language,  George  P. 


* 
1858.]    PEARLS    AND    RETURNING    GOLD    SEEKERS.        135 

Marsh  observes  :  *  In  no  part  of  America  do  the  natives  confuse 
their  v's  and  w's  after  the  manner  of  the  Weller  family.'  But 
he  will  find  native  Pennsylvanians  who  say  *  werry '  and  *  wul- 
gar.'  Even  some  graduates  of  leading  universities  habitually  use 
*  oncet '  and  '  twicet.'  Still  our  country  has  fewer  provincialisms 
than  any  other,  and  the  railways  on  their  march  of  improvement 
are  rapidly  sweeping  thos*e  away. 

In  August  Kansas  was  stirred  by  two  new  excitements.  One 
was  the  reported  discovery  of  abundant  pearls  on  the  Yerdigris 
river,  near  the  uninhabited  southern  border.  The  settlers  rushed 
from  all  directions  to  pick  up  handfuls  of  such  a  tempting  crop ; 
for  human  nature  will  not  stay  to  dig  potatoes  and  gather  pump 
kins  when  it  is  promised  pearls.  But  these  treasures  proved 
to  be  worth  about  five  dollars  a  bushel — solely  for  the  magnesia 
they  contained. 

Simultaneously  with  this  came  a  gold  fever,  caused  by  the  re 
turn  of  several  adventurers  from  the  mountains.  From  earliest 
explorations  by  white  men,  the  vast  region  of  sand  and  alkali, 
sage-brush,  greasewood  and  cactus,  extending  from  western 
Kansas  to  the  Sierra  Nevadas,  and  from  the  British  Possessions  to 
northern  Mexico,  was  called  the  '  Great  American  Desert.'  Its 
boundless  wastes,  often  sweeping  for  hundreds  of  miles  in  dreary 
sand-hills  and  plains  destitute  of  water,  trees  and  grass,  were 
peculiarly  repulsive  and  believed  to  be  utterly  unproductive.  But 
the  Kocky  Mountains,  crossing  this  whole  tract  from  north  .to 
south,  in  a  series  of  ranges  sometimes  a  thousand  miles  in  width, 
were  more  alluring.  Their  deep  solemn  forests  of  pine  and  fir, 
their  flashing  streams  and  lovely  vistas  of  greensward  inclosed 
by  vast  walls  of  rock  with  snow-covered  summits  were  a  pleasant 
relief  to  the  eye  wearied  by  desert  wastes/  There  were  early  tra 
ditions  of  gold  and  other  treasures.  A  book  published  in  Cincin 
nati  fifty  years  ago,  says : 

1  These  mountains  are  supposed  to  contain  minerals,  precious  stones  and  gold  and 
silver  ore.  It  is  but  late  that  they  have  taken  the  name  Rocky  Mountains  ;  by  all  the 
old  travelers  they  are  called  the  Shining  Mountains  *  from  an  infinite  number  of  crys- 

*  Idaho  signifies  '  the  shining  mountains,' — a  fitting  name ;  for  some  of  its  peaka 
glitter  in  the  sunlight  with  unequaled  brilliancy. 


136        COLONEL  GILPIN'S  EARLY  PREDICTIONS.  [1858. 

tal  stones  of  an  amazing  size,  with  which  they  are  covered,  and  which,  when  the  sun 
shines  full  upon  them,  sparkle  so  as  to  be  seen  at  a  great  distance.  The  same  early 
travelers  gave  it  as  their  opinion  that  in  future  these  mountains  would  be  found  to 
contain  more  riches  than  those  of  Indostan  and  Malabar,  or  the  golden  coast  of  Guinea, 
or  the  mines  of  Peru.' 

These  surmises  excited  little  notice,  for  the  '  early  travelers ' 
believed  every  mountain  an  El  Dorado  and  every  stream  a  Pactolus. 
The  first  statement  which  appeared  worthy  of  serious  attention  was 
made  by  Colonel  William  Gilpin  of  the  United  States  army. 
This  gentleman,  a  zealous  student  of  the  natural  sciences,  crossed 
the  continent  with  a  party  of  Oregon  explorers,  and  again  with 
his  command  during  the  Mexican  war.  In  1849,  in  an  address 
at  Independence,  Missouri,  as  the  result  of  all  his  observations,  he 
asserted  the  abundant  existence  of  gold,  silver,  arid  precious 
stones  throughout  the  Eocky  Mountains.  But  his  hearers  voted  him 
an  enthusiast ;  and  for  ten  years  longer  the  only  white  inhabitants 
of  the  remote  mountains  continued  to  be  trappers  and  traders. 

The  first  organized  attempt  to  prospect  the  mountains  for  gold 
was  made  by  a  party  of  Cherokee  Indians,  in  1857 ;  but  they  were 
driven  back  by  hostile  savages.  General  Marcy  relates  that  in 
May  1858,  a  teamster  of  his  expedition  returning  from  New 
Mexico  to  Utah,  washed  grains  of  gold  from  the  sandy  bed  of 
Cherry  Creek,  where  Denver  now  stands.  In  the  spring  of  that 
year  a  party  set  out  from  Georgia  to  seek  gold  in  these  mountains, 
and  at  the  same  time  several  young  men  from  Kansas  stimulated 
by  the  sight  of  a  rich  nugget  which  a*  Delaware  Indian  declared 
he  had  found  there,  started  for  the  same  region. 

In  August  they  returned,  ragged  and  shaggy,  but  reporting  that 
they  had  found  rich  deposits  near  the  base  of  Pike's  Peak.  They 
told  extravagant  stories ;  but  when  asked  to  show  specimens  of 
the  precious  metal  one  would  produce  from  the  bottom  of  his 
pocket  a  little  quill  containing  a  few  shining  grains.  All  the  gold 
they  brought  home  would  not  have  paid  a  week's  board  for  the  party. 

But  their  reports  were  corroborated  by  rumors  from  other 
sources  and  strengthened  by  *  the  well-known  proclivity  of  lumps 
to  increase  in  size  the  further  they  roll.'  Gold — talis'manic  word! 
— stirred  the  hearts  of  the  mercurial  population  of  the  frontier. 
Several  hundred  persons  immediately  started  for  Pike's  Peak — 


1858.] 


RATTLESNAKES    AS    BED-FELLOWS. 


137 


among  them  a  persevering  printer,  who  with  precisely  ten  cents 
in  his  pocket  trundled  his  complete  outfit  of  clothing,  provisions 
and  mining  tools 
in  a  wheelbar 
row,  seven  hun 
dred  miles — 
from  Kansas 
City  to  the  base 
of  the  moun 
tains  !  Thus 
began  the  first 
migration  to  the 
Eocky  Moun 
tain  gold  region. 

Kattlesnakes 
were  one  un 
pleasant  feature 
of  Kansas  life. 
While  camping 
out,  one  some 
times  found 

them  unpleasantly  near  him  in  the  morning.  In  houses  whose 
floors  were  laid  with  green  lumber,  which  in  seasoning  left  broad 
openings,  the  inmates  were  occasionally  startled  to  see  one  of 
these  reptiles  peer  up  through  a  crack,  and  stare  about  the  room. 
I  knew  one  delicate  lady  from  Connecticut,  who  on  blackberrying 
expeditions  in  the  woods,  frequently  killed  huge  rattlesnakes 
three  or  four  feet  in  length.  I  think  the  western  species  is  less 
poisonous  than  those  of  the  East ;  for  old  settlers  from  Missouri 
and  Illinois  hold  them  in  little  terror.  When  bitten  they  drink 
from  a  pint  to  a  quart  of  raw  whisky,  which  is  believed  to  neutral 
ize  the  virus,  and  reputed  an  unfailing  remedy.  The  rattle  of  the 
snake  has  a  peculiarly  hollow,  death-like  sound ;  but  he  never 
springs  without  this  warning,  and  he  can  only  strike  half  the 
length  of  his  body. 

During  this  fall  many  residents  were  preempting  their  claims. 
The  law  contemplates  a  homestead  of  one  hundred  and  sixty 
acres  at  a  nominal  price  for  each  actual  settler  and  no  one  else ; 


RETURNED    PIKE'S   PEAKERS. 


138 


MYSTERIES    OF    PRE-EMPTING    LANDS.        [1868. 


A  MORNING  CALLER. 


but  land  is  plenty  and  everybody  preempts.  A  young  merchant,- 
lawyer,  or  speculator,  rides  into  the  interior,  to  the  unoccupied 

public  lands,  pays  some  settler 
five  dollars  to  show  him  the 
vacant  'claims/  and  selects 
one  upon  which  he  places 
four  little  poles  around  a  hol 
low  square  upon  the  ground, 
as  children  commence  a  cob- 
house.  Then  he  files  a  notice 
in  the  land-office  that  he  has 
laid  the  foundation  of  a  house 
upon  this  claim  and  begun  a 
settlement  for  actual  resi 
dence.  He  does  not  see  the 
land  again  until  ready  to 

*  prove  up,'  which  he  may  do  after  thirty  days.  Then  he  revisits 
his  claim,  possibly  erects  a  house  of  rough  slabs,  costing  from  ten 
to  twenty  dollars,  eats  one  meal  and  sleeps  for  a  single  night  un 
der  its  roof.  More  frequently,  however,  his  improvements  consist 

solely  of  a  foundation 
'of  four  logs.  He  goes 
to  the  land-office  with, 
a  witness,  and  certifies 
under  oath  his  desire 
to  preempt  the  north 
west  quarter  of  section 
twenty-four,  township 
ten,  range  thirteen,  (or 
whatever  the  tract 
may  be,)  for  his  *  own 
A  HABITABLE  DWELLING.  exclusive  use  and  ben 

efit.'     The  witness  also 

swears  that  the  preemptor  settled  upon  the  land  at  the  time  stated, 
and  erected  'a  habitable  dwelling,'  in  which  he  still  resides. 
Sometimes  he  is  interrogated  closely  ;  but  he  can  reply  under  oath 
to  as  many  questions  as  the  officer  can  ask ;  so  the  preemptor  *  lo 
cates  '  a  land-warrant  upon  the  claim — i.  e.,  leaves  one  in  payment 


1858.]    FORMS  OF  'DUPLICATES' AND  PATENTS.         139 

for  it,  as  warrants  can  always  be  bought  for  less  than  one  dollar 
twenty-five  cents  per  acre,  which  must  be  given  for  Government 
lands  when  paid  for  in  money.  In  return,  he  receives  a  prelimi 
nary  title  or  '  duplicate '  in  the  following  form : 

(Preemption  Act  of  Sept.  4,  1841.) 
MILITARY  BOUNTY  LAND  ACT  OF  MARCH  3,  1855. 

No.  3614. 

Register's  Office,  Kickapoo,  K.  T.,  March  3,  1859. 

Military  Land  Warrant  No.  77,298  in  the  name  of  Mary  Wilkins,  has  this  day  been 
located  by  John  Smith  upon  the  Northwest  quarter  of  Section  Twenty-three,  in  Town 
ship  Six,  South  of  range  Nineteen,  subject  to  any  preemption  claim  which  may  be 
filed  for  said  land  within  forty  days  from  this  date. 
Contents  of  tract  located,   ) 
160  acres.  ' 

J.  W.  WHITFELD,  Register. 
By  THOS.  P.  BEACH. 

After  the  lapse  of  a  few  months,  required  for  reporting  the  pre 
emption  to  the  General  Land-office  at  Washington,  upon  the  sur 
render  of  his  duplicate  he  obtains  a  final  title  or  '  patent '  from  the 
Government,  inscribed  on  parchment,  and  running  in  this  wise : 

THE  UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA. 
To  all  to  whom  these  presents  shall  come,  Greeting  • — 

Whereas,  in  pursuance  of  the  Act  of  Congress  approved  March  3,  1855,  entitled 
'An  Act  in  addition  to  certain  Acts  granting  Bounty  Land  to  certain  Officers,  and 
Soldiers,  who  have  been  engaged  in  the  Military  Service  of  the  United  States  '  there 
has  been  deposited  in  the  General  Land  Office,  Warrant  No.  77,298  for  one  hundred 
and  sixty  acres,  in  favor  of  Mary  Wilkins,  widow  of  Willis  Wilkins,  Private, 
Captain  Kenshaw's  Company,  Tennessee  Militia,  War  1812,  with  evidence  that  the 
same  has  been  duly  located  upon  the  Northwest  quarter  of  Section  Twenty-three,  in 
Township  Six,  south  of  range  Nineteen,  in  the  District  of  lands  subject  to  sale  at 
Kickapoo,  Kansas  Territory,  containing  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  according  to  the 
Official  Plat  of  the  survey  of  the  said  land  returned  to  the  General  Land  Office,  by  the 
Surveyor  General— the  said  Warrant  having  been  assigned  by  the  said  Mary  Wilkins 
to  Sautford  M.  White,  and  by  him  to  JOHN  SMITH,  in  whose  favor  said  tract  has  been 
located :  Now  know  ye  that  there  is  therefore  granted  by  the  United  States,  unto  the 
said  JOHN  SMITH,  as  assignee  as  aforesaid,  and  to  his  heirs,  the  tract  of  land  above 
described,  to  have  and  to  hold  the  said  tract  of  land,  with  the  appurtenances  thereof, 
unto  the  said  JOHN  SMITH,  as  assignee  as  aforesaid,  and  to  his  heirs  and  assigns  for 
ever. 

In  testimony  whereof,  I,  James  Buchanan,  President  of  the  United  States  of  Amer. 
ica,  have  caused  these  Letters  to  be  made  Patent,  and  the  Seal  of  the  General  Land 
Office  to  be  hereunto  affixed. 


140 


'OATHS    ABE    WOKDS.' 


[1858. 


Given  under  my  hand  at  the  City  of  Washington,  the  Tenth  day  of  September,  in 
the  Year  of  our  Lord  One  Thousand  Eight  Hundred  and  Sixty,  and  of  the  Indepen 
dence  of  the  United  States  the  Eighty-fifth. 

By  the  President, 

JAMES  BUCHANAN. 
By  J.  B.  LEONARD,  Secretary. 
J.  "W.  GRANGER,  Recorder  of  the  General  Land  Office, 


iSeal  of  ) 
the  General  \ 
Land  Office.  ) 


Eecorded  Vol.  412,  page  221. 

In  three  cases  out  of  four,  after  'proving  up,'  the  preemptor 
never  visits  his  land  again  unless  for  the  purpose  of  selling  it. 
Says  the  Spanish  proverb,  'Oaths  are  words,  and  words  are 
wind.'  Thus  this  unequivocal  perjury  is  regarded  upon  the  fron 
tier.  The  general  feeling  is  that  it  wrongs  no  one,  and  that  the 
settlers  have  a  right  to  the  ]and. 

Hundreds  of  men  whose  families  are  still  in  the  East  find  wit 
nesses  to  testify  that  their 
wives  and  children  are  re 
siding  upon  the  land.  I 
have  known  men  to  pre 
empt  who  had  never  been 
within  twenty  miles  of 
their  claims,  facile  wit 
nesses  swearing  with  the 
utmost  indifference  that 
they  were  residing  upon 
them. 

The  preemptors  must 
state  under  oath  that  they 
have  made  no  agreement 
direct  or  indirect  for  selling 
any  part  of  the  land.  But 
in  numberless  instances 
these  statements  are  false 
hoods,  connived  at  by  the 
officers. 

In    most    land-offices    a 
man  cannot  preempt  unless 
lie  has  a  house  at  least  twelve  feet  square.    I  have  known  a 


HOUSE    'TWELVE  BY  FOURTEEN.' 


1858.] 


BORROWING    A    CHILD. 


141 


witness  to  swear  that  the  house  in  question  was  '  twelve  by  four 
teen,'  when  actually  the  only  building  upon  the  claim  was  one 
whittled  out  with  a  penknife,  twelve  inches  by  fourteen. 

Some  offices  require  that  the  house  must  have  a  glass  window. 
While  traveling  in  the  interior,  I  stopped  at  a  little  slab  cabin, 
where  I  noticed  a  window-sash  without  lights  hanging  upon  a  nail. 
As  I  had  seen  similar  frames  in  other  cabins7  I  asked  the  owner 
what  it  was  for. 

'  To  preempt  with,'  was  the  reply. 

'How?' 

'  Why,  don't  you  understand  ?  To  enable  my  witness  to  swear 
that  there  is  a  window  in  my  house!' 

Sometimes  the  same  cabin  is  moved  from  claim  to  claim,  until 
half  a  dozen  differ 
ent  persons  have 
preempted  with  it. 
In  Nebraska  a  lit 
tle  frame  house, 
like  a  country  da- 
guerrean  car,  was 
built  for  this  pur 
pose  on  wheels,  and 
drawn  by  oxen. 
It  enabled  the  pre- 
emptor  to  swear 
that  he  had  a  bona 

fide  residence  upon  his  claim.  It  was  let  at  five  dollars  a  day, 
and  scores  of  claims  were  proved  up  and  preempted  with  it.  The 
discovery  of  any  such  malpractice  and  perjury  would  invalidate 
the  title.  But  I  never  knew  of  an  instance  where  the  preemptor 
was  deprived  of  his  land  after  once  receiving  his  title. 

No  woman  can  preempt  unless  she  is  a  widow  or  the  c  head  of 
a  family.'  But  sometimes  an  ambitious  maiden  who  wishes  to  se 
cure  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  land,  borrows  a  child,  signs 
papers  of  adoption,  swears  that  she  is  the  head  of  a  family,  and 
preempts  her  claim ;  then  annuls  the  papers  and  returns  her  tem 
porary  offspring  to  its  parents  with  an  appropriate  gift. 

During  an  August  excursion  I  was  impressed  for  the  hundredth 

10 


A    BONA    FIDE   RESIDENCE. 


142  AN    INGENIOUS    RUNAWAY    HUSBAND.         [1858. 

time  with  the  surpassing  beauty  of  a  night  in  Kansas.  Upon  a 
soft  background  of  pure  sky,  trees  and  foliage  lay  penciled  with 
wonderful  distinctness ;  the  silent  river  was  broken  up  into  rest 
less  little  waves  that  tossed  hither  and  thither  gleams  of  moon 
light  ;  and  profoundest  quiet  rested  upon  wood  and  water,  broken 
now  and  then  by  the  cry  of  a  whippowil  or  the  far-off  tinkle  of 
cow-bells  upon  the  prairie. 

Kansas  life  had  novel  social  features.  A  prisoner  in  Atchison 
county  was  held  to  bail  for  appearance  at  court  on  some  minor 
criminal  charge.  Any  one's  bond  would  have  been  taken  ;  but  he 
resolutely  refused  to  give  bail.  There  was  no  jail  wherein  to  con 
fine  him.  There  was  no  money  in  the  treasury  to  hire  a  guard. 
The  deputy -sheriff  was.  obliged  to  take  him  into  his  personal  cus 
tody  ;  and  the  prisoner,  improving  his  first  opportunity,  leisurely 
walked  away. 

William  Arthur,  a  resident  of  Sumner,  one  day  crossed  the 
river  in  a  skiff,  with  his  wife  and  children.  Near  the  Missouri 
shore  was  a  long  sand-bar,  which  the  boat  could  not  pass.  Arthur 
secured  it  and  left  his  family  in  it,  remarking  that  he  would  swim 
the  narrow  arm,  of  the  stream,  transact  his  business,  and  return 
in  a  few  minutes.  He  was  an  excellent  swimmer;  so  his  wife  of- 
ferred  no  opposition,  and  he  plunged  in.  For  a  few  yards  he 
swam  rapidly  and  easily ;  but  suddenly  he  threw  up  his  arms  and 
sank,  his  hat  floating  away.  In  a  few  seconds  he  rose  to  the  sur 
face,  struggled  wildly,  then  sank  again,  and  was  seen  no  -more. 
The  cries  of  the  distracted  woman  brought  several  men  in  skiffs, 
who  searched  for  two  days  but  without  success; — in  the  strong  Mis 
souri  current  bodies  are  seldom  found  near  the  place  of  drowning. 

Arthur  and  his  wife  had  sometimes  quarreled,  but  the  grief  of 
the  widow  was  very  poignant.  I  shall  never  forget  the  shrieks 
and  groans  of  the  poor  woman  during  the  days  and  nights  imme 
diately  after  her  bereavement.  But  Time  the  great  healer  calmed 
her;  the  estate  was  finally  settled  and  the  little  property  secured 
to  herself  and  the  children. 

She  afterward  learnt  that  her  husband  sank  intentionally,  swam 
several  rods  under  water,  came  up  behind  a  log  and  breathed  for 
a  moment,  then  continued,  still  under  water,  to  the  shore,  and 
gained'  the  bank  unperceived.  There  the  ingenious  scoundrel 
amused  himself  for  a  while  by  watching  the  search  made  for  his 


1858.]  A    CLEVER    STRATAGEM    SPOILED.  143 

corpse,  then  procured  a  hatband  spent  the  night  at  the  house  of  a 
confidential  friend ;  traveled  across  Missouri  and  Illinois  to  In 
diana,  and  there  under  an  assumed  name  married  again  !  When 
his  wife  heard  this,  she  started  in  pursuit  of  her  old  husband  and 
his  new  partner  in  a  spirit  illustrative  of  Congreve's  aphorism : 

1  Hell  hath  no  fury  like  a  woman  scorned.' 

I  never  learned  the  result,  but  there  must  have  been  a  (  wreck  of 
matter '  when  she  caught  them. 

About  the  same  time  the  invalid  wife  of  a  Territorial  officer  was 
sent  to  New  Orleans  for  her  health.  Her  husband  received  several 
letters  from  her  dated  and  postmarked  at  the  Crescent  City.  But 
one  day  in  St.  Louis,  while  awaiting  dinner  in  the  reading-room  of 
the  Planters'  House,  he  glanced  at  a  weekly  newspaper  published 
in  an  obscure  Indiana  town.  Suddenly  his  attention  was  arrested 
rjy  an  advertisement  notifying  him  that  his  wife  had  applied  for  a 
divorce  and  that  the  case  would  be  tried  the  following  day. 
The  truth  flashed  upon  the  thunderstruck  husband.  While 
sending  her  letters  to  New  Orleans  for  mailing,  his  wife  had  re 
sided  in  Indiana  long  enough  to  claim  a  residence  under  the 
peculiar  divorce  laws  of  that  State.  As  the  statute  required,  she 
had  notified  him  by  publication ;  relying  upon  the  trivial  circula 
tion  of  the  paper  as  a  safeguard  against  its  reaching  him.  Though 
one  of  the  best  laid  schemes,  it  went  'a-gley.'  Her  distracted  lord 
rushed  upon  a  train  of  cars  just  leaving  for  the  East,  chartered  a 
special  locomotive  from  an  Indiana  junction  to  the  county  seat, 
and  entered  the  court-room  while 'the  ease  was  pending,  just  in 
time  to  prevent  judgment  against  Mm  by  default.  He  found  his 
wife  under  the  protection  of  another  prominent  Kansas  politician, 
who  had  been  for  some  weeks  ostensibly  in  New  York.  Proceed 
ings  were  stopped,  the  trio  returned  home,  and  husband  and  wife 
resumed  their  old  relations. 

During  night  rides  in  winter,  I  often  saw  prairie  fires  blazing 
along  the  horizon.  Though  never  dangerous  to  men  or  animals, 
as  depicted  in  our  school -geographies,  they  are  always  startling  and 
grand.  The  sky  is  pierced  with  tall  pyramids  of  flame,  or  covered 
with  writhing,  leaping,  lurid  serpents,  or  transformed  into  a  broad 
ocean  lit  up  by  a  blazing  sunset.  Now  a  whole  avalanche  of  fire 


144  FERTILITY    OF    THE    HEMP    REGION.  [1858. 

slides  off  into  the  prairie,  and  then  'Opening  its  great,  devouring 
jaws  closes  in  upon  the  deadened  grass. 

One  of  my  December  trips  was  to  St.  Joseph.  Crossing  the 
Missouri  my  road  led  along  rich  bottomlands,  from  three  to  eight 
miles  wide,  densely  wooded  with  noble  trees,  and  prolific  of  fever 
and  ague.  Like  the  high  Kansas  prairies,  which  sometimes  yield 
one  hundred  and  twenty-five  bushels  to  the  acre,  this  damp  jet- 
black  soil  produces  corn  in  incredible  abundance.  If  political 
economists  are  right,  and  the  happiness  of  a  people  is  in  exact 
proportion  to  their  rapidity  of  increase,  Missouri  must  be  the  very 
home  of  the  blessed;  for  at  every  cabin  tow-headed  boys  and 
girls  spring  up  and  grow  like  weeds.  They  can  hardly  be  more 
plentiful  along  the  Nile,  where  it  is  said  to  cost  only  three  dollars 
apiece  to  rear  children  to  maturity. 

Leaving  this  narrow  valley,  I  entered  the  garden  of  Missouri. 
Instead  of  log-cabins  plastered  with  mud,  appeared  generous  frame 
and  brick  dwellings  surrounded  by  natural  parks  of  oak  and  elm. 
On  all  sides  were  fields  of  corn  wheat  and  hemp.  The  latter  re* 
quires  rich  soil ;  a  Missouri  proverb  asserts  that  land  which  will 
raise  hemp  will  produce  any  other  crop.  Here  in  fields  of  a  hun 
dred  acres  the  hemp,  already  cut,  was  rotting  upon  the  ground, 
or-  standing  in  stacks  like  wheat  sheaves.  The  slaves  were  fat 
and  comfortable-looking,  but  few  in  number ;  for  recent  mechani 
cal  improvements  in  cutting  and  breaking  hemp  were  rapidly 
taking  the  place  of  manual  labor — silent  colporteurs  spreading  the 
gospel  of  freedom.  Twenty  years  before,  the  farmers  preempted 
their  land  at  one  dollar  and  twenty-five  cents  per  acre ;  now  it 
was  held  at  thirty  and  forty  dollars.  The  settlers  had  grown  rich 
by  selling  their  products  for  the  heavy  overland-trade.  This  com* 
merce  built  up  successively  Jefferson  City,  Booneville,  Independ 
ence,  Kansas  City,  Westport,  Weston,  St.  Joseph,  Leavenworth, 
Atchison  and  Omaha,  as  each  in  turn  became  the  chief  out  fit 
ting  point  for  the  emigration  to  California,  Oregon,  Colorado, 
Montana,  and  Idaho. 

St.  Joseph  now  contained  five  thousand  inhabitants,  was  built 
mainly  of  brick,  and  pleasantly  shaded.  But  wise  ones  prophe 
sied  that  it  could  never  be  a  great  city,  as  it  stood  on  the  east  side 
of  the  river,,  while  a?l  important  commercial  towns  on  the  frontier 


1858.]  REPUBLICAN    VERSUS    BLACK    REPUBLICAN.    145 

spring  up  on  the  western  banks.  On  the  way  homeward,  I  en 
countered  an  Indiana  family  en-route  for  Kansas,  in  a  covered 
wagon  drawn  by  two  horses.  They  had  not  slept  under  a  roof  for 
two  months.  The  ground  was  covered  with  snow,  and  the  mer 
cury  below  zero ;  but  the  wife  and  little  children  all  declared  that 
they  slept  comfortably  in  their  vehicle  in  the  open  air. 

Eeaching  the  Missouri  again,  I  found  the  ice  running  so  heavily, 
that  it  was  impossible  to  cross.  Two  days  passed  before  the  win 
ter  bridge  became  firm  enough  for  footmen  and  horses. 

This  autumn  certain  rash  friends  in  Sumner  had  nominated  me 
for  the  legislature.  Upon  election  morning  one  of  my  Pro-slavery 
neighbors,  an  ex-Missourian,  addressed  me  at  the  polls  with  great 
earnestness : 

'  Mr.  E— ,  I  heard  your  speech  the  other  night,  and  I  liked  your 
sentiments.  But  I  am  told  that  after  I  came  away  you  avowed 
yourself  a  black  republican.  I  had  concluded  to  vote  for  you, 
but  I  cannot  vote  for  a  black  republican.  Did  you  say  it?1 

'  No.  I  know  no  political  distinctions  now  except  Free  State 
and  Pro-slavery.  But  I  did  say  that  whenever  the  Territory  be 
came  a  State,  and  the  issue  should  arise  between  republicanism 
and  democracy,  I  should  be  a  republican.' 

'Well!'  (very  earnestly,)  you  didn't  say  Hack  republican,  did 
you?' 

'No,  sir.' 

'  Then  I  shall  vote  for  you,  for  I  liked  your  speech ;  but  I'll  be 
d — d  if  I  ever  vote  for  a  black  republican !' 

Several  democrats  labored  long  and  patiently  to  convince  him 
that  the  obnoxious  adjective  was  inseparable  from  the  inoffensive 
noun.  He  heard  them  patiently,  but  then  replied : 

'  Gentlemen,  I  don't  think  Mr.  R —  is  that  kind  of  a  man.  He 
don't  act  like  it,  he  don't  look  like  it,  he  don't  talk  like  it ;  and  I 
am  bound  to  vote  for  him.' 

And  vote  for  me  he  did,  to  their  great  disgust. 


i±6  A    BIT    OF    LEGISLATIVE    FUN.  [1859. 


CHAPTER    XII. 


THE  Territorial  legislature  of  this  winter  was  a  more  reputable 
body  than  that  of  the  previous  year.  Still  one  of  the  representa 
tives,  originally  from  Indiana,  in  recording  himself  a  physician 
transcribed  very  promptly  the  letters  '  P-h-i-s-i ' — then  hesitated  a 
moment,  and  at  last,  turning  to  a  bystander  asked  in  all  seriousness : 

'Do  you  spell  physician  'tion,'  or  'sion?' 

This  parliamentary  body  had  the  genuine  frontier  fondness  for 
rollicking  humor.  One  day  a  jovial  lobby  member  from  Coffey 
county,  whom  for.  convenience  I  will  call  Jones,  was  discovered 
attempting  to  kiss  a  chamber-maid  at  his  hotel.  This  was  a  good 
pretext  for  sport.  So,  late  that  night  a  burlesque  court  was  organ 
ized.  A  Hoosier  judge,  named  Baker,  irrepressibly  funny,  pre 
sided.  Mr.  Larzalere  the  speaker  of  the  House  of  Eepresentatives, 
was  appointed  to  the  high  dignity  of  constable.  An  indictment 
was  framed  against  Jones,  charging  him  with  the  offense  already 
mentioned,  as  committed  '  in  defiance  of  the  form  of  statute  for 
such  cases  made  and  provided,  and  against  the  peace  and  dignity 
of  the  Territory  of  Kansas.' 

The  constable  found  him  in  bed  ;  but  he  was  unceremoniously 
dragged  forth,  and  after  a  hasty  toilet,  brought  into  the  court 
room.  A  jury  was  impaneled  with  some  difficulty,  many  persons 
being  challenged  on  the  most  novel  grounds.  Territorial  Secretary 
Walsh,  for  example,  was  excused  from  serving,  on  the  allegation 
of  bad  moral  character.  Two  members  of  the  House  were  ap 
pointed,  one  to  prosecute,  and  the  other  to  defend  the  suit.  It  be 
ing  well  understood  that  all  fines  there  assessed  were  payable  in 
oysters,  the  witnesses,  instead  of  being  sworn  to  tell  the  truth  the 
whole  truth  and  nothing  but  the  truth,  were  reminded  that  they 


1859.]          COST    OF    KISgING    A    CHAMBER-MAID.  147 

stood  before  an  august  tribunal  in  the  great  Mississippi  valley ;  and 
warned  to  stand  on  their  dignity,  and  give  the  testimony  which, 
in  their  judgment,  would  produce  the  most  oysters  for  the  court! 

The  proof,  though  utterly  contradictory,  was  held  conclusive, 
the  court  ruling  that  names  and  dates  were  immaterial,  and  that 
hearsay  testimony  was  circumstantial  evidence.  The  case  was 
made  out  in  the  most  minute  manner,  even  to  exhibiting  the  bald 
head  of  Jones,  from  which  the  young  woman  was  alleged  to  have 
plucked  the  hair  in  self-defense!  The  prosecuting  attorney — 
John  W.  Wright,  who  had  been  for  twenty  years  a  district  judge 
in  Indiana — attempted  to  break  down  a  witness  for  defense  named 
Warren,  by  asking  impertinent  questions,  when.  Warren  retorted 
by  giving  such  testimony  as  implicated.  Wright  himself  in  the  as 
sault,  and  he  was  promptly  taken  into  custody  as  an  accessory  to 
the  crime.  E.  B.  Mitchell,  counsel  for  defense,  upon  hinting  that 
the  court  was  partial,  was  fined  two  cans- of  oysters  for  contempt. 

The  case  was  argued.  The  court,  in  charging  the  jury,  instruct 
ed  them  peremptorily  to  bring  in  a  verdict  of  guilty.  The  prose 
cutor  suggesting  some  further  instructions  in  regard  to  the  amount 
of  the  fine,  the  judge  rebuked  him  sharply,  assuring  him  that  the 
court  understood  herself  perfectly  I  Jones  was  of  course  found 
guilty.  The  judge,  after  a  touching  appeal  to  his  feelings,  fined  him 
twelve  cans  of  oysters  and  two  baskets  of  champagne;  assured 
him  that  it  being  a  court  of  original  and  exclusive  jurisdiction,, 
there  could  be  no  appeal  from  its  decisions,  and  ordered  him  into 
custody  until  the  fine  and  costs  should  be  paid.  He,  entering  fully 
into  the  spirit  of  the  occasion,  did  not  demur;  and  within  half  an 
hour,  court,  jury,  spectators  and  the  prisoner,  sat  down  to  the  repast. 
Toasts,  songs  and  speeches  followed,  and  the  festivities  were  pro 
longed  until  the  total  expense  to  Jones  of  attempting  to  kiss  the 
pretty  chamber-maid,  footed  up  to  about  a  hundred  dollars. 

The  legislature  passed  scores  of  divorce  bills.  Practically,  any 
one  asking  for  a  divorce,  could  obtain  it;  and  in  every  case  both 
parties  were  authorized  to  marry  again.  One  lady  (whose  hus 
band  had  separated  from  her  in  Boston  because  like  the  mightiest 
Julius  he  would  have  a  wife  above  suspicion,)  now  residing  tem 
porarily  in  Kansas,  sent  in  a  petition  to  be  released  from  her  bonds. 
The  chairman  of  the  House  committee  on  marriage  and  divorce — • 


148  EASY    DIVORCE    IN    NEW    STATES.  [1859. 

a  confirmed  old  bachelor — reported  with  grim  satire,  that  tho 
wrongs  she  had  suffered  appealed  to  the  humanity  of  every  mem 
ber  present ;  and  recommended  that  her  prayer  be  granted.  A  bill 
was  at  once  reported:  the  rules  were  suspended  and  in  four  or  five 
hours  it  passed  both  branches,  was  signed  by  the  governor  and 
became  a  law. 

One  wag  in  the  IJouse,  introduced  a  bill  declaring  marriage  abol 
ished  in  Kansas,  and  free  love  established  in  its  place.  A  second 
moved  that  the  legislative  bachelors  proceed  to  ballot  for  the  '  wid 
ows'  who  had  been  divorced.  A  third  in  an  earnest  speech  de 
clared  that  divorce  bills  were  now  passed  so  hastily  as  to  render  it 
unsafe  for  a  married  man  to  seek  his  domestic  couch  at  night,  lest 
he  should  wake  up  in  the  morning  to  find  himself  violating  a  com 
mandment.  I  received  -a,  letter  from  a  citizen  of  Massachusetts  ask 
ing  whethei'  his  wife,  who  was  spending  the  winter  in  Lawrence, 
passed  by  her  maiden  or  wedded  name,  and  whether  she  had  ap 
plied  for  divorce.  Upon  examining  the  statutes,  I  learned  that 
she  had  been  divorced  for  more  than  six  months. 

The  divorce  laws  of  all  our  new  States  and  Territories  are  prac 
tically  very  liberal ;  seldom  compelling  men  or  women  to  remain 
in  marriage  bonds  which  they  wish  severed,  save  in  cases  where 
the  motive  for  gaining  freedom  is  obviously  mercenary.  It  is  a 
striking  illustration  of  the  differing  customs  of  different  sections, 
that  while  in  South  Carolina,  and  also  in  New  Mexico  where  the 
doctrines  of  the  Roman  church  rule,  no  one  can  obtain  a  divorce 
for  any  cause,  yet  in  Utah  even  the  probate  courts  have  full  power 
with  or  without  public  notice  to  divorce  any  person  demanding  it, 
with  or  without  cause. 

This  Kansas  legislature  abrogated  by  a  single  act,  the  multitu 
dinous  and  barbarous  laws  passed  by  the  legislature  of  Missouri 
invaders,  and  until  now  in  nominal  force.  The  repeal  caused  gen 
eral  rejoicing ;  and  in  a  bonfire  of  tar  barrels  at  Lawrence,  the 
huge  volume  of  bogus  statutes  was  burned  amid  joyful  shouts 
and  huzzas.  Another  copy  was  sent  to  the  governor  of  Missouri, 
with  a  statement  that  the  people  of  Kansas  had  no  further  use 
for  it. 

The  legislature  also  passed  an  *  amnesty  act,'  directing  that  all 
persons  charged  with  crimes  arising  from  political  disturbances  in 


1859.] 


PRISONERS    BROUGHT    TO    LAWRENCE. 


149 


several  counties  named,  should  be  set  at  liberty,  and  be  exempt 
from  farther  trial  for  deeds  of  the  past.  This  compromise  meas 
ure  was  designed  to  put  a  stop  to  the  endless  feuds,  and  to  start 


THE   END   OF  THE    'BOGUS   LAWS.' 

anew,  with  a  clean  record  under  an  agreement  from  Free  State  and 
Pro-slavery  men,  to  discountenance  all  further  violence.  But  on 
the  day  after  the  adjournment  of  the  legislative  assembly,  the 
quiet  city  was  stirred  by  an  excitement,  sudden  and  fierce  as  a 
Texas  norther.  It  was  caused  by  the  arrival  from  Bourbon  coun 
ty,  of  fifteen  Free  State  prisoners,  handcuffed  and  strongly 
guarded.  The  officer  in  charge  was  reported  to  be  Hamilton,  the 
Marais  des  Cygnes  murderer.  As  the  party  entered  town,  the 
news  passed  through  the  streets  like  a  gust  of  wind  over  a  field  of 


150 


AN    UNFORTUNATE    HAMILTON. 


[1859. 


ripe  wheat.  The  citizens,  without  organization  or  leader,  rushed 
forth  to  rescue  the  prisoners.  They  bore  them  triumphantly  to  a 
blacksmith  shop,  and  cut  off  their  irons. 

The  shaggy,  wild-looking  guard,  half  intoxicated,  and  wholly 
frightened,  attempted  to  fly,  but  were  pursued  by  a  madly- shouting 
crowd.  Successively  each  was  caught,  dragged  from  the  saddle, 
and  deprived  of  horse,  gun,  and  revolver,  with  the  speed  of  light* 
ning.  Then  the  eager  cry  rang  out :  f 

Hamilton !    '  Where's  Hamilton  ?' 

A  horseman  suddenly  struck  spur  and  galloped  away.  The  ex 
cited  crowd  saw  him,  and  pursued. 

'There  he  goes!'  was  the  shout,  followed  by  the  flash  of  twenty 
rifles  and  revolvers.  But  the  bullets  passed  harmless,  and  he  was 
put  of  range. 

Afterward  it  appeared  that  the  horseman  was  not  the  Hamilton 
and  did  not  belong  to  the  posse ;  but  was  a  quiet  citizen  who  chanced 
to  ride  into  town  with  it.  He  learned  precisely  what's  in  a  name, 


WHAT'S  IN  A  NAME? 


and  narrowly  escaped  death  because  an  acquaintance  had  been 
overheard  to  call  him  '  Hamilton.' 


1859.]          A    HARD    COUNTRY    FOR    GOVERNORS.  151 

The  guns  taken  from  the  posse  were  United  States  arms.  The 
captors  retained  them  ;  to  the  victors  belonged  the  spoils. 

Fighting  and  speech-making  were  the  two  essentials  of  a  Kan 
sas  excitement.  Now  that  one  was  over  the  other  followed.  The 
crowd,  swollen  to  a  thousand  people,  gathered  in  front  of  the  Eld- 
ridge  House  and  called  for  ihe  Territorial  governor,  Samuel  Me- 
dary.  He  was  an  old  Ohio  journalist  and  politician  who  had  suc 
ceeded  Denver.  Thus  far  he  had  been  popular,  and  he  was  now 
received  with  cheers.  He  commenced  by  condemning  the  violent 
proceedings ;  and  insisted  that  the  captured  guns  should  be  given 
up.  Many  of  these  guns  were  visible  in  the  crowd,  but  Medary's 
demand  was  received  with  universal  shouts  of  l  No,  no,  no.' 

The  angry  governor  reiterated  that  the  arms  were  Territorial 
property  and  should  be  surrendered  if  it  took  twelve  months  and 
the  United  States  army  to  accomplish  it.  Sidney  Smith's  friend 
who  had  once  voyaged  to  the  polar  regions,  and  ever  afterward 
bored  everybody  about  them,  one  day  met  a  literary  acquaintance 
upon  the  street.  The  great  reviewer,  hurried  and  impatient,  sub 
mitted  to  be  button-holed  until  he  heard  the  stereotyped  beginning : 

1  When  I  was  at  the  North  Pole' — and  then  irascibly  broke 
away,  ejaculating  : 

<  Oh,  d— n  the  North  Pole!' 

Shocked  and  appalled,  the  poor  explorer  walked  on  until  he 
met  the  immortal  wit,  who  proved  a  patient  listener  to  the  story 
of  his  wrongs,  and  after  its  rehearsal  remarked  solemnly : 

'  It  was  just  like ;  he  is  the  most  irreverent  man  I  ever 

knew.  Why  I  have  heard  him  speak  disrespectfully  of  tti« 
equator !' 

The  Kansans  were  equally  reckless ;  they  had  no  mite  of  re 
spect  even  for  the  equator.  The  governor's  threat  caused  shouts  of 
derisive  laughter,  with  sarcastic  suggestions  that  his  excellency 
should  take  the  guns  at  once !  Medary  saw  that  he  was  on 
dangerous  ground,  and  after  a  few  general  patriotic  remarks,  re 
tired  from  the  rostrum. 

Then  there  was  a  spontaneous  call  for  Lane.  That  old  war 
horse  emerged  from  the  crowd,  threw  off  the  black  shaggy  bear 
skin  overcoat  which  he  invariably  wore,  mounted  a  wagon  and 
spoke  for  half  an  hour,  drawing  a  shout  of  laughter  or  a  round 


152  KIDNAPPING    OF    JOHN    DOT.  [1859 

of  applause  with  almost  every  sentence.  Lane  was  distinctively 
a  vessel  of  wrath.  He  had  long  hated  Medary  politically,  and 
owed  him  a  personal  grudge,  because  in  an  official  communica 
tion  the  governor  had  addressed  him  as  '  Mr.'  instead  of  '  Gen 
eral.'  The  grim  adventurer  now  wreaked  his  revenge  in  a  most 
fierce  and  withering  excoriation.  He  seemed  to  have  studied 
Medary's  entire  biography  and  recited  an  appalling  catalogue  of 
his  political  crimes  for  the  last  twenty  years ;  first  in  Ohio,  and 
afterward  as  Territorial  governor  of  Minnesota  where  he  was 
charged  with  conniving  at  gross  election  frauds  in  the  remote 
Pembina  regions. 

Medary  was  in  his  hotel,  within  ear-shot,  while  Lane  thus  paid 
up  old  scores  and  left  a  large  margin  for  the  future.  Then 
speeches  were  made  by  other  leading  Free  State  men,  and  the 
meeting  adjourned.  The  guns  were  never  given  up. 

It  was  reported  that  Medary,  by  direction  of  President  Bu 
chanan,  had  offered  a  reward  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  for 
the  capture  of  old  John  Brown.  Brown  retorted  by  offering  a 
reward  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  for  Buchanan's  head. 
He  said  he  would  have  proposed  it  for  Medary's  head  if  he  had 
not  feared  that  some  of  his  men  would  actually  take  it ! 

Brown  was  now  residing  in  Kansas.  I  never  met  him  though  I 
heard  much  of  him  from  followers,  friends  and  enemies.  He  sel 
dom  participated  in  public  meetings,  always  declaring  himself 
ready  when  any  fighting  was  to  be  done,  but  adding  that  there 
was  too  much  talking,  and  too  little  shooting.  The  Free  State 
men  knew  his  unbounded  bravery  and  perfect  integrity,  but  re 
garded  him  as  partially  insane;  and  there  were  well-grounded 
reports  that  he  had  approved  of  some  dreadful  reprisals  in  the 
form  of  killing  unarmed  Pro-slavery  settlers. 

During  this  winter  Dr.  John  Doy  of  Lawrence  was  conducting 
thirteen  negro  fugitives  across  the  Territory  toward  Iowa.  A 
party  of  Missourians,  without  legal  process,  captured  him  in  Kan 
sas,  fifty  miles  from  the  State  line,  and  by  force  carried  him  to  St. 
Joseph,  where  he  was  tried  on  the  charge  of  enticing  away  slaves — 
a  felony  punishable  with  death. 

The  kidnapping  of  Doy  caused  much  excitement  in  Kansas, 
and  the  legislature  voted  a  thousand  dollars  to  secure  legal  couar 


1859.]  HIS    KESCUE    BY    JOHN    BROWN.  153 

sel  for  him.  I  attended  the  trial  in  St.  Joseph.  One  of  the  eoun* 
sel  for  the  State,  Colonel  Doniphan,  of  Border  Euffian  renown, 
said  in  addressing  the  jury  : 

1  If  we  allow  our  negroes  to  be  stolen  with  impunity,  our  fair- 
skinned  daughters  must  be  reduced  to  the  contemptible  drudgery 
of  the  kitchen  1' 

Ex-governor  Shannon  of  Kansas,  another  of  the  counsel,  with 
great  gravity,  and  without  the  least  intention  of  satire,  announced 
that  he  had  learned  during  a  long  residence  near  the  border  of 
Virginia,  that  slaves  would  sometimes  run  away  of  their  own  vo 
lition  ! 

The  indictment  charged  the  offense  as  committed  in  Platte 
county,  Missouri,  .though  the  prosecution  was  unable  to  prove  that 
Doy  had  ever  been  within  thirty  miles  of  that  State  till  he  was 
kidnapped.  On  the  first  trial  the  jury  failed  to  agree.  At  the 
next  term  of  the  court  the  prisoner  was  convicted,  and  sentenced 
to  the  penitentiary.  But  one  dark  night  old  John  Brown  and  a 
party  of  followers  crossed  the  Missouri,  broke  open  the  jail,  res 
cued  Doy,  and  carried  him  safely  back  into  Kansas — beating  the 
kidnappers  at  their  own  game. 

Old  settlers  of  Kansas  preserve  many  traditions  of  John 
Brown's  shrewdness,  daring  and  religious  enthusiasm.  At  Osa- 
wattomie,  in  1856,  when  Henry  Clay  Pate  with  his  Missouri  sold 
iers  attempted  to  capture  Brown,  the  old  Spartan  captured  him  and 
his  entire  command.  On  another  occasion  he  escaped  unperceived 
from  a  house  which  his  pursuers  beseiged  and  guarded  for  three 
more  days  and  nights,  supposing  him  still  there  and  not  daring  to 
enter.  Again  and  again  he  captured  officials  who  had  been  sent 
in  pursuit  of  him.  He  so  inspired  his  followers  with  his  own  re 
ligious  enthusiasm,  that  they  deemed  themselves  under  the  direct 
protection  of  the  Almighty,  and  seemed  absolutely  fearless  of 
death.  Hundreds  of  runaway  slaves  were  led  by  that  little  band 
through  the  perils  of  Kansas,  to  the  freedom  and  safety  of  Iowa ; 
and  in  camp  every  morning  their  captain  read  a  chapter  in  the 
bible  and  knelt  down  in  prayer  before  starting  on  their  day's 
march. 

In  December,  1857,  I  spent  eight  days  upon  a  little  steamer  as 
cending  the  Missouri  to  Kansas.  The  tedious  hours  were  pleas- 


154  KANSAS    TAPPED    BY    THE    RAILWAY.  [1859. 

antly  abbreviated  by  a  pair  of  bright  eyes  from  Connecticut, 
owned  by  a  maiden  bound  on  a  music-teaching  mission  to  Missouri. 
4  That  teaching  was  a  very  clever  subterfuge'  said  everybody,  '  she 
was  really  an  Abolition  emissary  in  pursuit  of  a  Border  Ruffian 
husband.'  Miss  Fanny  was  indignant ;  but  she  met  such  badi 
nage  with  all  the  denials  in  her  vocabulary.  Finally,  one  dreary 
evening  we  left  the  little  pilgrim  on  the  muddy  shores  of  her  new 
world ;  and  desolate  but  undaunted  she  went  on  her  way. 

In  March  1859,  in  the  cabin  of  a  steamer  near  St.  Joseph,  I  en* 
countered  a  little  lady  making  laudable  pretenses  of  matronly 
dignity.  It  was  the  Miss  Fanny  of  our  memory — the  Madam 
Fanny  of  our  prophecies,  accompanied  by  the  Border  Ruffian  of  her 
fancy  as  well  as  ours.  Like  many  other  mortals,  her  intentions 
were  good,  but  destiny  was  too  strong  for  her. 

Early  in  the  spring  of  1859  the  Hannibal  and  St.  Joseph  rail 
road  was  completed  across  the  State  of  Missouri,  placing  Kansas 
in  direct  communication  with  the  eastern  States.  With  the  rail 
road  came  the  telegraph  ;  and  we  were  no  longer  isolated  from  the 
world. 

How  marvelous  are  the  changes  of  half  a  century — changes 
witnessed  by  some  who  read  these  lines !  Go  back  with  me  forty 
years  to  one  of  our  Atlantic  cities,  and  imagine  that  Mr.  Smith  of 
Boston  finds  it  necessary  to  take  a  trip  to  what  has  since  be 
come  known  as  Kansas.  Smith  looks  forward  to  the  journey  as 
a  most  solemn  affair.  For  weeks  the  feminine  members  of  his 
household  are  employed  upon  his  wardrobe ;  it  will  hardly  do  to 
start  with  less  than  a  year's  outfit.  Intelligence  of  his  proposed 
trip  creates  a  great  sensation,  and  everybody  looks  upon  him  as  a 
daring  fellow. 

The  hour  of  departure  draws  near.  What  solemnity  pervades 
his  domestic  circle  !  Finally,  having  completed  his  preparations, 
settled  up  his  business,  and  made  his  will,  Smith  bids  his  weeping 
family  a  long  farewell,  and  starts  on  his  perilous  journey.  What 
untold  dangers  are  before  him  !  Hardships  by  land,  sea,  canal  and 
river — in  stage  coaches,  in  sloops,  in  canal  boats,  on  horseback, 
and  in  batteaux  propelled  by  human  power  against  the  strong  cur 
rent  of  the  mad  Missouri.  If  no  hostile  Indian  steals  his  scalp, 
he  reaches  Kansas  after  a  journey  of  three  months.  He  remains 


AN  ABOLITION  EMISSARY.     PAGE  154. 


1859.]          THE    LUXURIES    OF    MODERN    TRAVEL.  155 

but  seven  days — a  short  respite  after  so  long  travel — and  then 
tarns  his  face  eastward.  Perhaps  at  St.  Louis,  three  weeks  later, 
he  finds  awaiting  him  a  missive  from  home — a  letter  which  has 
been  seventy  or  eighty  days  on  the  way. 

After  seven  months'  absence  and  many  hardships,  he  is  over 
joyed  to  reach  home ;  for  the  journey  has  taught  him  that  '  the 
world  has  a  million  roosts  for  a  man  but  only  one  nest.'  He  is 
received  as  one  risen  from  the  dead.  For  the  rest  of  his  life 
Smith  is  a  hero  ;  he  is  lionized  by  everybody,  regarded  as  one  of 
the  seven  wonders  of  the  world  and  pointed  out  to  strangers  on 
the  street  as  a  living  man,  who  has  actually  been  four  hundred 
miles  beyond  the  great  Mississippi  into  the  howling  wilderness. 

Contrast  that  period  with  the  present.  Now,  Mr.  Brown  of 
Boston,  reflects  on  a  Saturday  night  while  walking  home  from 
his  counting-room,  that  he  is  a  little  worn  down  by  close 
attention  to  business,  remembers  that  he  has  a  few  investments 
which  need  looking  after  and  concludes  to  take  *  a  run  '  out  to 
Kansas.  So  on  Monday  morning  he  gives  a  few  directions  about 
his  business,  packs  half  a  dozen  clean  shirts,  a  Railway  Guide  and 
an  Atlantic  Monthly  into  his  carpet-sack,  says  '  Grood-by  '  to  Mrs. 
Brown  and  the  little  Browns,  and  steps  into  the  railway  carriage. 

For  the  next  three  days  he  lives  at  the  rate  of  twenty -five  miles 
an  hour.  At  night  he  retires  to  his'  couch  in  the  sleeping-car,  al 
most  as  luxurious  and  secluded  as  his  own  apartment  at  home. 
If  an  old  traveler  and  familiar  with  the  route,  he  spends  the 
hours  of  darkness  in  unbroken  slumbers,  all  unmindful  of  city 
and  village,  forest  and  prairie,  that  whisk  by  in  panoramic 
beauty.  In  the  morning  he  wakes  two  or  three  hundred  miles 
further  on,  to  find  awaiting  him  his  boots  freshly  polished  by  the 
porter,  and  convenient  bathing  and  dressing  saloons  in  which  to 
make  his  toilet. 

On  Thursday  morning  he  breakfasts  in  Kansas.  He  too,  re 
mains  seven  days  and  meanwhile  receives  daily  telegrams  an 
nouncing  that  all  is  well  at  home.  Finally,  on  the  second  Thurs 
day  morning,  he  takes  a  return  train.  If  he  is  fortunate  enough 
to  retain  his  head — for  locomotives  are  quite  as  dangerous  as  In 
dians — he  reaches  home  on  Saturday  evening  after  an  absence  of 
two  weeks.  He  finds  te,a  awaiting  him,  smoking  hot  on  the 


156  A    LITTLE    TRIP    TO    KANSAS.  [1859. 

table ;  for  on  the  way  he  telegraphed  that  he  should  arrive  by  the 
six  o'clock  train.  His  journey  attracts  no  attention.  Ordinary 
acquaintances  have  not  missed  him.  A  few  friends  as  they  meet 
him  on  the  street,  remark  : 

'  Hallo,  Brown  !  haven't  seen  you  for  a  few  days.  Been  in  the 
country  ?'  And  he  replies  : 

'Yes,  just  taken  a  little  trip  out  to  Kansas.' 

In  three  days  the  locomotive  has  borne  him  sixteen  hundred 
miles  in  its  iron  arms.  In  a  period  absolutely  imperceptible,  the 
telegraph  has  flashed  to  him  messages  from  the  loved  ones  at 
home  along  its  sensitive  nerves.  Such  the  triumphs  of  forty 
years.  The  Florentine  philosopher  was  right — *  Still  it  moves !' 


1359.]  GREAT    STAMPEDE    FOB    THE    MINES.  157 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

THUS  far  there  were  no  trustworthy  reports  of  gold  in  paying 
quantities  among  the  Kocky  Mountains.  But  every  newspaper  on 
the  Missouri  river  expressed  absolute  confidence  that  rich  mines 
existed ;  and  demonstrated  irresistibly  that  the  town  wherein  said 
newspaper  was  published  was  nearer  the  mines  than  any  other, 
and  therefore  the  place  for  emigrants  to  purchase  cattle,  wagons, 
provisions  and  mining  tools. 

In  the  early  spring  of  1859,  there  was  a  grand  stampede  for 
the  mountains.  The  hitherto  solitary  plains  suddenly  became 
densely  peopled.  A  line  of  daily  coaches  was  put  on  from  Leav- 
enworth  to  Denver,  via.  the  new  Kepublican  route,  costing  three 
hundred  thousand  dollars  before  the  first  vehicle  started,  and  in 
volving  a  running  expense  of  eight  hundred  dollars  per  day. 
Stations  from  *  One'  upward  were  established  from  ten  to  twenty- 
five  miles  apart,  over  prairie  and  desert.  A  thousand  mules  and 
a  hundred  stages  were  scattered  along  the  route.  The  fare  from 
Leavenworth  to  the  mountains  was  one  hundred  dollars;  way 
tariff  twenty-five  cents  per  mile. 

But  most  emigrants  went  by  private  conveyances.  Every  great 
thoroughfare  was  white  with  wagons,  and  by  night  the  smoke  of 
ten  thousand  camp-fires  curled  to  the  astonished  clouds.  Some 
emigrants  drew  their  entire  supplies  in  handcarts,  to  which  they 
had  harnessed  themselves;  others  bore  them  packed  upon  their 
backs — each  a  domestic  Atlas,  with  his  little  world  upon  his 
shoulders. 

Some  who  started  too  early  had  hands  and  feet  frozen.  Others 
consumed  all  their  provisions  before  one-third  of  the  journey  was 
accomplished,  and  were  fed  for  weeks  by  those  more  bountifully 

supplied.     Thousands  took  an  unexplored  route,  up  the  Smoky 
11 


158 


THE    SUFFERINGS    ALONG    THE    ROUTE.        [1859. 


Hill  river,  where  grass  and  water  proved  wofully  scarce  and  fear* 
ful  suffering  prevailed.  The  road  was  lined  with  cooking-stoves, 
clothing  and  mining  tools,  thrown  away  to  lighten  the  loads.  In 
the  absence  of  grass,  many  emigrants  were  compelled  to  feed  flour 
to  their  exhausted  cattle.  Some  wandered  off  upon  the  desert,  in 
the  hope  of  finding  a  shorter  route  and  nearly  perished  from  hun 
ger.  A  few  died  from  starvation ;  and  one  emigrant  from  Missouri 
actually  subsisted  for  several  days  upon  the  body  of  his  deceased 
brother,  and  when  found  was  a  raving  maniac. 


THE   DEAD   BROTHER. 


The  rush  to  the  mines  was  now  succeeded  by  a  panic  quite  a3 
contagious.  Eeports  that  the  exhibited  gold  had  come  from  Cali 
fornia  and  not  from  the  mountains,  turned  back  thousands  of  emi 
grants — some  before  they  had  gone  fifty  miles  from  the  river  and 
others  when  they  were  within  twenty-five  of  the  alleged  gold 
region.  Still  many  pressed  forward,  and  large  parties  of  undis 
mayed  adventurers  continued  to  start  daily.  The  country  had 
known  nothing  like  it  since  the  great  California  excitement  ten 
years  before,  when  thirty  thousand  emigrants  crossed  the  plains. 
It  was  an  uncontrollable  eruption — a  great  river  of  human  life 
rolling  toward  the  setting  sun — at  once  a  triumph  and  a  prophesy. 


1859.]      'CONCORD  WAGON'  OR  STAGE  COACH.          159 

On  the  twenty-first  of  May,  the  first  return  coach  from  the 
mountains  reached  Leavenworth.  It  brought  only  three  thousand 
five  hundred  dollars  in  gold  dust ;  but  there  was  an  enthusiastic 
celebration  with  sonorous  speeches  and  sanguine  predictions.  The 
arriving  vehicle  was  richly  decorated,  and  bore  the  high-sounding 
motto : 

1  The  gold  mountains  of  Kansas  send  greetings  to  her  commer 
cial  metropolis.' 

Another  coach  which  went  out  to  escort  it  into  the  city  was 
correspondingly  labeled : 

'Leavenworth  hears  the  echo  from  her  mineral  mountains  and 
sends  it  on  the  wings  of  lightning  to  a  listening  world.' 

May  25. — I  left  Leavenworth  by  the  overland  mail  carriage 
built  in  Concord,  New  Hampshire,  known  as  the  Concord  wagon. 
In  a  dozen  localities  its  manufacture  is  imitated  with  more  or  less 
success  but  never  equaled.  The  little  capital  of  the  Granite  State 
alone  has  the  art  of  making  a  vehicle  which  like  the  one-hoss 
shay,  *  don't  break  down,  but  only  wears  out.'  It  is  covered  with 
duck  or  canvas,  the  driver  sitting  in  front,  at  a  slight  elevation 
above  the  passengers.  Bearing  no  weight  upon  the  roof,  it  is  less 
top-heavy  than  the  old-fashioned  stage-coach  for  mud-holes  and 
mountain-sides,  where  to  preserve  the  center  of  gravity  becomes, 
with  FalstafF s  instinct,  '  a  great  matter.'  Like  human  travelers  on 
life's  highway,  it  goes  best  under  a  heavy  load.  Empty,  it  jolts 
and  pitches  like  a  ship  in  a  raging  sea ;  filled  with  passengers  and 
balanced  by  a  proper  distribution  of  baggage  in  the  'boot'  be 
hind,  and  under  the  driver's  feet  before,  its  motion  is  easy  and 
elastic.  Excelling  every  other  in  durability  and  strength,  this  hack 
is  used  all  over  our  continent  and  throughout  South  America. 

Two  coaches,  each  drawn  by  four  mules,  leave  Leavenworth 
daily  and  make  the  entire  trip  together,  for  protection  in  case  of 
danger  from  Indians.  A  crowd  gathered  in  front  of  the  Planters' 
House  to  see  our  equipages  start.  Amid  confused  ejaculations  or* 
'  Grood-by,  old  boy.'  '  Write  as  soon  as  you  get  there.'  '  Better 
have  your  hair  cut,  so  that  the  Arapahoes  can't  scalp  you.'  '  Tell 
John  to  send  me  an  ounce  of  dust.'  '  Be  sure  and  give  Smith  that 
letter  from  his  wife.'  '  Do  write  the  facts  about  the  gold,'  the 
whips  cracked  and  the  two  stages  rolled  merrily  away. 


- 


160  ST.  MARY'S  CATHOLIC  MISSION.  [1859. 

Beyond  Easton  and  Hickory  Point  we  passed  hundreds  of 
freight  and  emigrant  wagons  stalled  in  the  mud.  William  IL 
Eussell  the  chief  freighter  of  the  plains,  owns  many  of  them. 
Last  year  he  employed  twenty-five  thousand  oxen  and  two 
thousand  wagons,  chiefly  in  transporting  supplies  for  our  army 
in  Utah.  He  stipulates  that  any  one  of  his  teamsters  who  whips 
cattle  unmercifully  or  utters  an  oath,  shall  forfeit  his  wages.  Of 
course  the  precaution  proves  ineffective,  for  there  is  a  logical 
connection  between  mud-holes  and  profanity. 

Before  night  we  entered  the  Pottawatomie  Indian  reservationx 
where  prairie  wolves,  prairie  hens  and  rabbits  abound.  Spent  the 
night  at  Silver  Lake,  (Station  Four,)  with  a  half-breed  family. 
Playing  upon  the  floor  were  two  dusky  children  both,  as  we  were 
informed,  born  like  Eichard  with  teeth ;  and  in  the  mother's  arms 
reposed  an  infant  three  months  old,  whose  jaws  already  displayed 
similar  ornaments. 

At  midnight  arrived  two  return  coaches  from  the  mines.  The 
passengers  encountered  the  Missourian,  with  whose  horrible  story 
we  were  already  familiar.  He  showed  them  the  severed  head  of 
his  brother,  and  declared  that  he  found  the  brains  a  delicious  mor 
sel.  Days'  travel  sixty-eight  miles. 

May  26. — This  morning  rode  in  a  driving  rain  over  the  prairies. 
Passed  St.  Mary's  Catholic  Mission — a  pleasant,  home-like  group 
of  log-houses,  and  a  little  frame  church,  bearing  aloft  the  cross — 
among  shade  and  fruit  trees,  in  a  picturesque  valley.  The  mission 
has  been  in  operation  twelve  years.  In  the  school-room  we  saw 
sixty  Indian  boys  at  their  lessons. 

Eock  Creek  was  swollen  to  a  torrent,  which  compelled  us  to 
spend  the  afternoon  and  night  at  the  city  of  Louisville — a  city  of 
three  houses.  Its  hotel  affords  the  inevitable  fat  pork,  hot  biscuits 
and -muddy  coffee.  The  landlady  is  a  half-breed;  and  her  two 
daughters  with  oval  faces,  olive  complexions  and  bright  black 
eyes  the  only  pretty  Indian  girls  I  have  ever  seen. 

Scores  of  emigrants  are  encamping  along  the  stream.  One 
having  caught  a  turtle  as  large  as  a  peck  measure,  invited  us  to 
partake  of  a  savory  soup,  which  we  imbibed  from  tin  cups,  sitting 
on  a  log. 

Two  returning  coaches  filled  with  passengers  were  detained  on 


1859.]          HORACE    GREELEY    TAKING    A    TOUR.  161 

the  opposite  side  of  the  stream  through  the  night.  One  enter 
prising  traveler  attempted  to  reach  our  side  in  a  skiff;  but  was 
overturned  and  gained  the  bank  by  swimming.  Day's  travel 
twenty-eight  miles. 

May  27. — At  daylight  the  creek  had  fallen  so  that  our  mules 
crossed  without  swimming.  Some  of  the  countless  emigrants  on 
the  road  have  cows  yoked  with  oxen,  serving  as  motive  power  by 
day  and  giving  milk  at  night.  We  passed  one  two- wheeled  cart 
drawn  by  a  horse  in  the  shafts,  with  a  yoke  of  oxen  before  him. 
Beyond  the  three  houses  which  compose  the  town  of  Pittsburg, 
we  crossed  the  Big  Blue  river  and  reached  Manhattan — a  flourish 
ing  Yankee  settlement  of  two  or  three  hundred  people  in  a  smooth 
and  beautiful  valley.  It  is  overlooked  by  a  conical  mound  two 
hundred  and  fifty  feet  high,  commanding  a  fine  view  of  the  rich, 
well  timbered  soil  along  the  Kansas  and  the  Blue. 

Thus  far  I  had  been  the  solitary  passenger.  But  at  Manhattan 
Horace  Greeley  after  a  tour  through  the  interior  to  gratify  the 
clamorous  settlers  with  speeches,  joined  me  for  the  rest  of  the 
journey.  His  overland  trip  attracted  much  attention.  A  farmer 
asked  me  if  Horace  Greeley  had  failed  in  business,  and  was  going 
to  Pike's  Peak  to  dig  gold  j  Another  inquired  if  he  was  about  to 
start  a  newspaper  in  Manhattan.  And  as  we  were  leaving  one 
station  an  Indian  girl  said  to  a  new-comer : 

'Horace  Greeley  in  his  old  white  coat  is  sitting  in  that 
coach !' 

Twenty  miles  beyond,  after  passing  three  large  farms  based  on 
'  a  horizontal  rather  than  a  perpendicular  agriculture,'  we  reached 
Fort  Eiley,  one  of  our  most  beautiful  military  posts,  and  in  the 
geographical  center  of  our  national  possessions.  All  the  buildings 
are  two  stories  high,  of  light  limestone  resembling  marble. 

Just  beyond,  we  crossed  the  Eepublican  river,  which  rising  near 
the  Eocky  Mountains,  winds  eastward  for  six  hundred  miles  and 
here  unites  with  the  Smoky  Hill  Fork  to  form  the  Kansas.  The 
dim,  conical,  smoky  hills  from  which  the  chief  tributary  is  named 
are  visible  on  the  horizon  though  a  hundred  miles  distant.  Tim 
ber  abounds  near  the  fort ;  a  cotton  wood  tree  nine  feet  in  diameter, 
was  recently  cut  here.  We  stopped  for  the  night  at  Junction  City, 
(Station  Seven,)  the  frontier  post-office  and  settlement  of  Kansas. 


162 


A    LIMITED    STOCK    OF    GROCERIES; 


[1859. 


The  editor  of  its  weekly  newspaper,  an  old  Californian,  spoke  with 
great  enthusiasm  of  the  Golden  State.     Mr.  Greeley  replied : 

'  I  have  heard  some  hundreds  of  returned  Californians  use  the 
same  expressions ;  but  one  thing  I  cannot  understand.  If  you 
liked  California  so  well  why  didn't  you  stay  there  ?' 

'  Because  I  was  a  d — d  fool !'  replied  the  roving  journalist. 
In  the  evening  by  invitation  of  the  citizens,  Mr.  Greeley  ad 
dressed  an   attentive   audience  in  the   unfinished  stone  church. 
Theme,  *  Kepublicanism.'     Day's  travel  forty  miles. 

May  28.— At  a  creek-crossing,  a  little  tent  beside  our  road  is 
labeled  '  grocery '  in  enormous  letters.  With  keen  appetites  we 

awake  the  melancholy 
merchant  who  in  green 
spectacles  is  sleeping 
soundly  between  two 
whisky  barrels. 

'Have  you  any  crack 
ers?' 

4  Nary  cracker.' 
'Any  bread?' 
'Any  whoifffi 
'Bread.' 

'No  SirJ  (indignantly,^ 
'  I  don't  keep  a  bakery.' 
'Any  ham  ?' 
'No.' 

'Any  figs?' 
'No.' 

'Well  what  have  you?' 
'Why  I  have  sardines, 
pickled   oysters,    smoking 
tobacco,   a»d    stranger,   I 

have  got  some  of  the  best  whisky  you  ever  seen  since  you  was 
born!' 

The  narrow  valleys  of  the  streams  are  still  rich ;  but  the  upland 
soil  grows  thin  and  sandy.  At  one  fertile  valley-farm  we  saw 
herds  of  fat  cattle  and  a  corn-field  of  a  hundred  acres,  in  addition 
to  the  common  frontier  spectacle  of  a  tow-headed  mother,  with 
nine  tow-headed  children. 


GROCERY. 


1859.]        A    MODEL    LETTER    OF    INTRODUCTION.  163 

Left  behind  were  the  last  outposts  of  civilization ;  now 

'Away,  away,  from  the  dwellings  of  men 
To  the  wild  deer's  haunt,  and  the  buffalo's  glen.' 

Dined  at  Chapman's  creek,  in  a  station  of  poles  covered  with  sail 
cloth,  but  where  the  host  superior  to  daily  drenchings,  gave  us  an 
admirable  meal  upon  a  snowy  table-cloth. 

Timber  disappearing ;  only  straggling  fringes  remain  along  the 
creek,  with  an  occasional  solitary  tree  on  the  prairie  indicating  the 
whereabouts  of  water. 

Began  journeying  now  among  the  buffalo  grass,  two  inches 
high,  thick,  wiry,  nutritious  and  little  injured  by  frost  or  drowth. 
Prairies  spangled  with  wild  onions,  and  antelopes  bounding  over 
the  slopes. 

Met  thirty  Cheyenne  Indians  on  a  begging  and  stealing  expedi« 
tion,  who  asked  for  whisky  and  tobacco.  Nearly  all  bore  certifi 
cates  of  good  character  from  white  men ;  but  one  solemn  old  brave 
complacently  presented  me  the  following  testimonial  which  some 
wag  had  given  him : 

'This  Indian  is  a  drunkard,  a  liar  and  a  notorious  old  thief;  look  out  /or  him !' 

Stopped  for  the  night  at  Station  Nine,  consisting  of  two  tents. 
In  the  evening  wrote  newspaper  letters  in  the  coach  sby  a  lantern. 
As  the  air  was  damp  and  chill  with  rain  and  the  vehicle  shaken 
with  wind,  I  fancy  the  Tribune  printers  will  find  Mr.  Greeley's 
manuscript  even  less  legible  than  usual.  At  ten  o'clock  composed 
ourselves  to  sleep  in  the  carriage  to  the  music  of  howling  wolves 
and  heavy  thunder. — Day's  travel  sixty-eight  miles. 

May  29. — Wild  roses,  wormwood  of  various  species,  thistles, 
narrow-leafed  dock  and  many  other  new  plants  and  flowers,  some 
of  rare  beauty,  appear  along  our  road.  Crossed  Hurricane 
Creek,  named  from  a  furious  tornado  two  weeks  ago,  which  over 
turned  heavy  freight  wagons,  blew  a  light  buggy  into  fragments, 
tore  open  boxes  and  scattered  dry-goods  for  several  miles,  and 
rolled  cooking-stoves  forty  or  fifty  yards. 

The  distant  slopes  are  dotted  with  the  antelope,  the  best  living 
illustration  of  the  poetry  of  motion.  Miles  away,  when  his  earth- 
colored  body  is  quite  indistinguishable,  one  sees  his  white  tailflut- 


164        A  SPECIMEN  OF  EDITORIAL  PENMANSHIP.    [1859 


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SIMILE   OF  HORACE  GREELEY'S  MANUSCRIPT.      (FROM  A  TRIBUNE  EDITORIAL,  1866.) 


1859.]    AMONG  THE  ANTELOPES  AND   BUFFALOES.         165 

tering  in  the  breeze  like  a  shred  of  linen — a  perpetual  flag  of  truce 
to  human  enemies.  Here  he  ventures  near  us,  but  on  the  older 
roads,  rifles  and  shot-guns  have  made  him  shy  and  difficult  to  ap 
proach.  Old  hunters  are  wont  to  stick  a  ramrod  in  the  earth  with 
a  har^kerchief  flying  from  it,  and  then  conceal  themselves  among 
the  grass  or  sand-hills.  The  antelope,  lured  by  a  curiosity  fatal 
as  mother  Eve's,  circles  nearer  and  nearer,  until  he  falls  by  the 
cruel  bullet.  From  a  close  'view  his  liquid  eyes  suggest  infinite 
pathos  and  more  than  human  tenderness.  He  is  easily  domesti 
cated,  and  naturally  tame. 

The  antelope  and  the  buffalo  are  antipodes.  One  is  incarnate 
grace ;  the  other  clumsiness  itself.  The  antelope  gallops  airily 
over  the  hills,  with  an  elasticity  surpassing  the  fleetest  race-horse. 
The  buffalo  is  heavy  and  awkward ;  and  the  male,  with  huge 
head  and  enormous  shaggy  neck  from  which  the  hair  hangs  to  the 
ground,  canters  lumberingly  along  like  a  mastodon  suddenly 
awakened  and  uncertain  of  his  native  element. 

Dined  at  Station  Ten  sitting  upon  billets  of  wood,  carpet-sacks, 
and  nail-kegs,  while  the  meal  was  served  upon  a  box.  It  con 
sisted  of  fresh  buffalo  meat,  which  tastes  like  ordinary  beef 
though  of  coarser  fiber,  and  sometimes  with  a  strong,  unpleasant 
flavor.  When  cut  from  calves  or  young  cows  it  is  tender  and 
toothsome. 

Hundreds  of  deep  buffalo  trails  cross  our  road ;  and  through  the 
whole  afternoon  the  prairies  for  miles  and  miles  away,  quite  black 
with  the  huge  animals,  look  like  bushes  covered  with  ripe  whortle 
berries,  or  like  wood-land  afar  off.  The  cows  are  about  the  size 
of  our  domestic  cattle.  The  bulls  are  twice  as  large,  and  roll  in 
the  sand  and  wallow  in  mud-holes  like  hogs.  While  great 
droves  are  feeding  in  the  valleys  they  keep  sentinels  on  the 
ridges,  ready  to  give  notice  of  the  approach  of  danger.  Kunning 
herds  produce  clouds  of  dust,  and  shake  the  earth  like  thunder. 
The  calves  are  kept  in  the  center  of  the  drove  for  protection 
against  men  and  wolves. 

A  huge  tree  beside  our  road  is  completely  covered  with  names 
of  emigrants  and  dates  and  messages  for  their  friends  behind :  an 
ingenious  and  very  public  post-office. 

Six  weeks  ago  not  a  track  had  been  made  upon  this  route. 


166 


A    JOVIAL    PRAIKIE    MICAWBEK. 


[1859, 

Now  it  resembles  a  long-used  turnpike.  We  meet  many  return* 
ing  emigrants,  who  declare  the  mines  a  humbug ;  but  pass  hun 
dreds  of  undismayed  gold-seekers  still  pressing  on. 

One  Ohio  wagon  bears  the  inscription,  '  Boot  Hog  or  die.'  A 
returning  passenger  states  that  further  on  he  encountered  » philo 
sophical  emigrant  whose  wagon  was  labeled,  'Pike's  Peak  or  Bust.' 
One  after  another  the  traveler's  cattle  died,  till  only  one  cow  and  an 
ox  were  left.  During  a  luckless  night  these  either  strayed  away  or 
were  stolen  by  Indians.  The  next  day  my  informant  found  this 
prairie  Micawber  sitting  upon  his  wagon-tongue  smoking  his  pipe 
and  waiting  for  something  to  turnup.'  But  under  the  first  in 
scription  he  had  pen 
ciled  with  charcoal: 
'Busted,  ~by  thunder  /' 
Spent  the  night  at 
Station  Eleven,  occu 
pied  by  two  men 
who  gave  us  bread 
and  buffalo  meat  like 
granite. — Day's  trav 
el,  fifty -six  miles. 

May  30. — Large 
gray  wolves  abound 
near  our  road.  They 
often  kill  old  or 
wounded  buffaloes, 
and  sometimes  open 
graves  and  devour 
human  bodies.  Upon  this  newly-opened  thoroughfare  through 
the  heart  of  the  buffalo  country  the  animals  are  very  tame.  Tens 
of  thousands  are  feeding  beside  the  track,  and  they  often  cross  it 
five  or  six  yards  before  us,  compelling  the  driver  to  stop,  lest  they 
should  stampede  the  mules.  The  mule  never  becomes  reconciled 
to  buffalo  or  Indian,  and  if  stampeded,  the  most  rheumatic  animal 
will  dash  off  at  incredible  speed.  In  some  instances  they  have  run 
fifty  miles  before  they  could  be  stopped. 

One  serene  old  bull  approaches  within  twenty  rods  of  us  and 
the  driver  waits  while  I  fire  at  him  again  and  again  with  Sharpe's 


'  BUSTED,  BY   THUNDER  !' 


1859.]  FACTS    ABOUT    THE    BUFFALO.  167 

rifle.  He  continues  to  approach,  only  greeting  each  ball  that 
strikes  him  with  a  nervous  movement  and  switch  of  the  tail,  as  a 
sensitive  horse  would  respond  to  a  fly.  As  he  is  facing  me  I  am 
unable  to  hit  him  back  of  the  fore-leg ;  and  forward  of  that,  the 
buffalo  is  not  vulnerable.  After  I  have  fired  four  or  five  times  he 
turns  and  limps  slowly  away  into  a  ravine.  Afterward  I  fire  at 
several  others  with  the  same  brilliant  success.  Mr.  G.  urges  me 
to  continue,  on  the  ground  that  it  amuses  me  and  does  not  hurt  the 
buffalo ;  but  is  quite  too  uncertain  of  his  own  marksmanship  to 
try  the  rifle. 

These  animals  add  inconceivably  to  the  poetry  and  life  of  the 
plains.  'Geographers  and  road-makers  by  instinct,  the  best 
routes  across  the  continent  have  been  established  upon  their 
beaten  trails.  They  once  roamed  over  the  entire  Pacific  slope 
and  thence  eastward  to  Lake  Champlain.  The  last  buffalo  east 
of  the  Mississippi  was  killed  in  1832.  According  to  Fremont,  up 
to  1836  one  traveling  between  the  Rocky  Mountains  and  the  Mis 
souri  never  lost  sight  of  them.  They  hare  now  greatly  diminished, 
as  more  than  half  a  million  are  killed  annually — often  from 
wantonness  or  curiosity.  Every  emigrant  is  ambitious  to  shoot  a 
buffalo ;  and  whitened  skulls  perforated  by  bullets,  make  the  road 
a  Golgotha.  But  even  now,  some  authorities  believe  that  they 
outnumber  all  the  domestic  cattle  of  the  United  States. 

To  the  prairie  Indian  they  are  useful  and  indispensable  as  the 
camel  to  the  Arab,  or  the  reindeer  to  the  Laplander.  Their  flesh 
supplies  him  with  food  during  the  entire  year.  Their  hides  clothe 
his  person,  protect  his  lodge  from  winter  storms,  and  afford  him 
an  article  of  .barter  with  the  traders.  Their  hoofs  furnish  him 
with  glue,  for  manifold  purposes ;  and  in  these  treeless  wastes 
their  excrement  is  an  admirable  substitute  for  firewood.  Their 
strong  necks  and  their  tough  foreheads,  which  will  flatten  a  rifle 
ball  like  a  wall  of  stone,  constitute  a  formidable  battering-ram, 
almost  justifying  the  belief  that  if  a  buffalo  had  taken  the  place 
of  the  unfortunate  bull  which  attempted  to  butt  the  locomotive  off 
the  track,  he  would  have  met  a  happier  fate  than  that  brave  but 
indiscreet  animal.  A  blow  from  the  head  of  a  calf  two  months 
old,  is  sufficient  to  prostrate  an  athletic  man. 

R  B.  Fuller,  superintendent  of  this  division  of  the  stage  route, 


168  A    NARROW    ESCAPE    FROM    DEATH.  [1859. 

while  riding  in  a  desert- valley  encountered  several  thousand  of 
these  wild  cattle ;  and  his  mule  with  characteristic  perversity,  re 
fused  to  budge  an  inch,  but  stood  broad- wise  to  the  approaching 
herd.  Under  the  horns  of  the  first  buffalo  the  steed  dropped 
dead  upon  the  spot,  almost  without  a  single  kick.  His  rider, 
stunned  by  the  shock,  fortunately  fell  close  beside  the  mule,  and 
so  escaped  being  trampled  to  death.  In  a  few  seconds,  recovering 
his  consciousness,  he  saw  that  several  of  the  ponderous  brutes  had 
already  leaped  over  him ;  and  drawing  his  revolver  he  fired  six 
shots  in  rapid  succession.  The  reports  and  smoke  broke  the  herd 
into  two  columns ;  and  in  a  few  minutes  with  saddle  and  bridle 
upon  his  shoulder  he  was  walking  briskly  toward  the  road,  vow 
ing  that  he  would  never,  never,  never  ride  a  mule  again. 


1859.]  HORACE  GEEELEY'S  WIDE-SPREAD  FAME.      169 


CHAPTER    XIV. 

MAY  30. — (Continued)— At  Station  Twelve  where  we  dined, 
the  carcasses  of  seven  buffaloes  were  half  submerged  in  the  creek. 
Yesterday  a  herd  of  three  thousand  crossed  the  stream,  leaping 
down  the  steep  banks.  A  few  broke  their  necks  by  the  fall ; 
others  were  trampled  to  death  by  those  pressing  on  from  behind. 

This  afternoon  our  coach  was  stopped  at  a  creek-crossing  by  a 
mired  wagon  which  blocked  the  road.  Several  Ohio  emigrants 
with  their  weary  cattle  were  endeavoring  to  extricate  it.  Mr.  G. 
assisted  them  in  their  efforts  to  lift  the  wheels  from  out  the  Slough 
of  Despond.  While  they  paused  a  moment  one  inquired  of  the 
stranger  his  business.  He  replied  that  he  was  connected  with  a 
New  York  daily  journal. 

'What  journal?' 

4  The  Tribune  /' 

'  Ah !  that's  old  Greeley's  paper,  isn't  it  ?' 

4  Yes  sir.' 

Just  then  another  of  the  party  who  had  been  absent,  returned 
and  recognizing  the  ablest  editor  and  the  most  influential  Ameri 
can  of  our  generation  laboring  at  the  wheel,  said  to  his  comrades : 

'Gentlemen,  this  is  Mr.  Greeley  of  New  York.' 

The  curious  interrogator  was  dumb  with  amazement  and  cha 
grin. 

Nearly  every  train  we  pass  contains  some  emigrant  who  stops 
the  coach  and  remarks : 

'  Mr.  G.  my  name  is .  I  heard  you  lecture  fourteen  years 

ago.' 

And  the  veteran  journalist  invariably  replies : 

'O,  yes!  How  are  my  old  friends  A.  and  B.  and  C.?'  nam 
ing  half-a-score  of  citizens  in  the  region — whether  of  Maine  or 


170 


HALF    A    MILLION    OF    BUFFALOES. 


[1859. 


HORACE    GREELEY. 


Minnesota — from  which  the  stranger  hails.     But  to-day  on  the 
outskirts  of  a  crowd  a  stolid-looking  gold-seeker  asked  me  earn 
estly: 

4  Stranger,  is  that  John  Gree- 
ley  those  fellows  talk  so  much 
about?' 

*  No — Horace.7 

*  Horace — Horace    Greeley — 
who  is  he  ?' 

'  Editor  of  the  Tribune? 
'Which?' 

'Editor  of  the  ISTew  York 
Tribune} 

1  What's  that? 

I  enlightened  my  interlocutor, 
who  seemed  to  feel  that  he  had 
gained  valuable  information,  and  explained  that  he  was  '  born  and 
raised '  in  Missouri. 

After  being  mired  in  the  same  creek  for  two  hours,  our  own 
vehicle  was  drawn  out  by  the  oxen  of  friendly  emigrants.  Spent 
the  night  at  Station  Thirteen.  Day's  travel,  fifty-six  miles. 

May  31. — Though  still  plentiful,  the  buffaloes  are  diminishing. 
Mr.  Gr.  believes  them  nearly  identical  with  the  buffaloes  he  has 
seen  on  the  Campania  in  Italy,  though  considerably  larger.  But 
ihe  authorities  call  the  American  animal  the  bison,  to  distinguish 
Aim  from  the  Asiatic  buffalo.  The  former  was  never  seen  by 
Europeans  till  Cortez  and  his  followers  found  two  or  three  in  the 
zoological  gardens  of  Montezuma. 

When  Lewis  and  Clark  ascended  the  Missouri,  half  a  century 
ago,  a  herd  of  these  animals  crossing  at  one  point  choked  the 
stream  for  a  mile,  compelling  the  explorers  to  wait  till  they  had 
passed.  Their  report  hesitatingly  asserts  that  they  'thought' 
they  saw  twenty  thousand  at  once ;  but  I  am  confident  we  looked 
upon  forty  thousand  from  one  stand-point,  and  that  in  all  we  have 
seen  half  a  million.  For  several  days  we  have  never  been  out  of 
sight  of  them  except  when  our  coach  was  in  some  deep  ravine. 

To-day  we  have  been  among  prairie-dog  towns,  passing  one 
more  than  a  mile  long.  Some  of  their  settlements  are  said  to  be 


1859.]          THE    CURIOUS    LITTLE    PRAIRIE-DOG.  171 

twenty  miles  in  length,  containing  a  larger  population  than  any 
metropolis  on  the  globe.  The  little  animal  is  a  trifle  larger  than 
the  gray  squirrel,  subsists  on  grass  and  has  none  of  the  character* 
istics  of  the  dog  but  his  yelp,  which  is  like  that  of  a  young  puppy, 
Small  owls  perch  upon  the  mound  beside  his  hole ;  but  there  are 
no  signs  of  the  traditional  rattlesnake  said  to  be  an  unwelcome 
joint  occupant  of  his  subterranean  city,  whose  labyrinthine  pas 
sages  honeycomb  the  ground.  The  hillock  of  earth  extracted 
from  each  hole,  is  ten  or  twelve  inches  high  and  two  feet  in 
width.  Upon  this  stands  the  prairie-dog,  erect  on  his  hind 
legs.  His  house  is  his  castle.  His  own  picket  and  scout,  he 
maintains  a  sharp  lookout  for  his  foreign  enemy  the  wolfj  and 
has  an  occasional  domestic  feud  with  his  persistent  co-tenants,  the 
rattlesnake  and  the  owl. 

The  most  honest  of  real  estate  dealers,  he  acts  upon  the  great 
truth  that  inhabitants  are  indispensable  to  a  city,  and  never  offers 
lots  in  paper  towns  to  unsuspecting  victims.  There  is  no  deceit 
in  that  honest  jovial  face.  Vegetarian  diet  has  not  made  him  an 
ascetic ;  he  takes  the  world  like  a  philosopher  and  a  gentleman ; 
frolics  merrily  with  his  fellows  in  the  warm  sunlight,  and  as  you 
approach,  scampers  home.  There  from  his  own  roof  he  gazes 
quizzically  at  you,  shaking  his  fat  sides  with  laughter;  and  as  you 
reach  forth  your  hand  to  take  him,  he  turns  a  graceful  summer 
sault,  gives  a  series  of  hearty  cachinnations,  and  affording  a  dis 
solving  view  of  his  tail,  dives  into  his  underground  domicile. 
This  evening  we  supped  on  his  flesh,  and  found  it  very  palatable, 
resembling  that  of  the  squirrel. 

"We  spend  the  night  at  Station  Fifteen,  kept  by  an  ex-Cincin 
nati  lawyer,  who  with  his  wife,  formerly  an  actress  at  the  Bowery 
Theater,  is  now  cooking  meals  and  making  beds  for  stage  passen 
gers  on  the  great  desert  three  hundred  miles  beyond  civilization. 
The  mimic  stage  presents  few  sharper  contrasts.  Our  road,  fol 
lowing  the  valley  of  the  Republican  river,  is  here  two  thousand 
three  hundred  feet  above  sea-level.  At  midnight  arrives  a  return 
coach  bringing  a  fair  delicate  Indiana  boy  who  ran  away  last 
spring,  froze  his  feet  en  route  for  the  mines,  and  after  many 
hardships  is  now  glad  to  return  to  home  and  school.  Day's 
travel  fifty-six  miles. 


172      HEALTH    AND     STRENGTH    OF    THE    SAVAGE.    [1859. 

June  1. — Like  Dombey  and  Son  the  Indiana  boy  proved  'a 
daughter  after  all !'  She  was  dressed  in  male  costume  with  a 
slouching  hat  which  she  wore  at  table  to  conceal  her  features. 
She  talked  little,  but  in  walking  from  the  tent  to  the  coach  her 
gait  betrayed  her.  She  is  twenty  years  old ;  appears  intelligent 
and  well  educated ;  professes  to  be  returning  to  her  parents  in 
Indiana  after  spending  three  months  in  the  mines ;  but  gives  no 
reason  for  her  dangerous  and  unwomanly  freak. 

Dined  at  Station  Sixteen,  kept  by  a  Yermont  boy  who  has 
roamed  over  twenty-seven  States  of  the  Union.  Near  it  was  en 
camped  a  party  of  Arapahoes,  with  thirty  or  forty  children  play 
ing  upon  the  grass.  Those  under  four  or  five  years  were  entirely 
naked.  The  older  boys  wore  breech-clouts  of  buffalo  skin,  and 
the  girls  were  wrapped  in  robes  or  blankets.  All  were  muscular 
and  well  developed.  Old  trappers  assert  that  they  never  saw  an 
Indian  idiotic  or  naturally  deformed.  Only  in  the  centers  of 
civilization,  the  bee-hives  of  the  human  race,  are  the  helpless  little 
ones  thus  smitten.  Herbert  Spencer  describes  the  British  laws  as 
1  those  twenty  thousand  statutes  which  every  Englishman  is  sup 
posed  to  know  and  which  no  Englishman  does  know.'  Relentless 
nature  is  like  the  State.  She  presumes  every  man  to  know  her 
laws;  she  pardons  none  for  his  ignorance ;  she  inflexibly  punishes 
every  disobedience.  Nay,  severer  still,  she  visits  the  sins  of  the 
fathers  upon  the  children  to  the  thir^and  fourth  generation. 

Indian  women,  accustomed  to  hard  labor  in  the  open  air,  never 
compel  a  traveling  party  to  stop  more  than  three  or  four  hours  on 
the  birth  of  a  child.  If  left  behind  they  overtake  the  expedition 
the  same  evening  or  the  next  day,  with  the  little  new-comer 
strapped  on  the  maternal  back.  They  ride  astride  like  men. 

The  boys  of  this  company  were  very  expert  with  the  bow,  easily 
hitting  a  silver  half-dollar  at  sixty  or  seventy  yards.  All  were 
inveterate  beggars,  asking  by  signs  for  food  and  drink.  Their 
camp  consisted  of  twenty  conical  lodges  twelve  or  fifteen  feet 
high — buffalo  robes  with  the  fur  inside,  stretched  around  a  circle 
of  poles.  These  dwellings  ten  or  twelve  feet  in  diameter,  with  a 
hole  at  the  top  for  the  escape  of  smoke,  are  warm  in  winter  and 
cool  in  summer.  The  Sibley  tent  used  in  our  army  is  modeled 
upon  them. 


1859.]  OVERTURN    OF- THE    COACH.  173 

In  front  of  each  the  shield  and  quiver  of  the  brave  rested  upon 
a  pole  or  tripod.  The  shields,  worn  upon  the  left  arm,  are  covered 
with  antelope  skin  or  buffalo  hide  stuffed  with  hair,  and  will  usu 
ally  ward  off  any  rifle  ball  which  does  not  strike  them  perpen 
dicularly.  The  bows  have  great  force,  sometimes  throwing  an 
arrow  quite  through  the  body  of  a  buffalo. 

Several  squaws  who  were  making  moccasins  fringed  with  beads 
offered  me  a  pair  for  a  cup  of  'sooker,'  (sugar.)  Others  were  eat 
ing  soup  with  their  fingers  from  a  kettle,  while  naked  children  on 
the  ground  were  gnawing  tough  buffalo  meat.  A  dozen  muscu 
lar  half-naked  braves  lying  in  the  sun  shook  hands  with  me,  de 
claring  themselves  *  Good  Indians.'  But  only  yesterday  they 
threatened  to  kill  and  scalp  a  station-keeper  unless  he  should 
leave  their  country. 

Descending  an  abrupt  hill,  our  mules,  terrified  by  meeting  three 
savages,  broke  a  line,  ran  down  a  precipitous  bank,  upsetting  the 
coach  which  was  hurled  upon  the  ground  with'a  tremendous  crash, 
and  galloped  away  with  the  fore- wheels.  I  sprang  out  in  time  to 
escape  being  overturned.  From  a  mass  of  cushions,  carpet-sacks 
and  blankets  soon  emerged  my  companion,  his  head  rising  above 
the  side  of  the  vehicle  like  that  of  an  advertising  boy  from  his 
frame  of  pasteboard.  Blood  was  flowing  profusely  from  cuts  in 
his  cheek,  arm  and  leg ;  but  his  face  was  serene  and  benignant  as 
a  May  morning.  He  was  soon  rescued  from  his  cage,  and  taken 
to  Station  Seventeen,  a  few  yards  beyond,  where  the  good  woman 
dressed  his  galling  wounds. 

From  their  village  near  by  many  Cheyennes  pressed  around  our 
baggage  which  was  scattered  upon  the  ground.  They  are  instinct 
ive  thieves,  and  we  watched  them  with  drawn  revolvers  until  it 
was  carried  to  the  station.  There  were  three  chiefs  in  the  party : 
1  Little  Bear,'  'Antelope,'  and  'Black  Wolf.'  Two  had  cut-throat 
faces ;  their  features,  as  often  occurs  among  savages  of  every  race, 
reminding  one  strongly  of  wild  beasts.  But  Black  Wolf  looked 
good-humored  and  honest.  Complacently  joining  me  in  a  cigar  he 
assured  me  by  signs  and  the  few  English  words  in  his  vocabulary, 
that  he  was  going  to  shoot  'heap  of  buffaloes.'  Then  pointing 
toward  the  west  and  digging  in  the  ground  with  his  fingers  he 
ejaculated :  '  Money !  money !'  to  indicate  his  knowledge  of  the  gold 

12 


174  A    NIGHT    IN    A    CHEYENNE    VILLAGE.       [1859 

discoveries.     An  old  brave  of  at  least  ninety  now  hobbled  up, 
telling  me  in  dumb  show  that  he  was  aged,  almost  blind  and 


A   CHANGE   OF   BASE. 


should  soon  sleep  in 
the  ground,  and — 
would  I  give  him  a 
little  tobacco? 

In  the  evening  Black 

Wolf  took  me  through  his  village.  The  warriors  wore  long  hair 
dressed  in  cues,  and  lengthened  by  a  strand  of  buffalo  hair  until  it 
reached  the  ground.  Ornaments  of  tin  and  silver  jingled  from 
their  ears.  The  cheeks  and  foreheads  of  squaws  were  painted 
bright  vermilion.  At  nightfall  the  women  brought  in  the  ponies 
and  picketed  them  among  the  lodges,  that  they  might  not  be  un 
prepared  for  a  midnight  alarm.  In  profoundest  peace,  the  Indians 
maintain  all  the  system  and  precaution  of  an  army  in  time  of  war. 
As  usual  we  sleep  in  the  coach  which,  vibrating  in  the  strong 
prairie  wind,  rocks  like  a  cradle.  Day's  travel  forty-nine  miles. 


1859.]        REPUBLICAN    RIVER    UNDER    GROUND.  175 

June  2. — Mr.  Greeley  awoke  so  stiff  and  sore  that  he  could  not 
move  a  muscle  without  suffering;  but  we  continued  on  by  the 
sandy  valley  of  the  Republican,  destitute  of  tree  and  shrub  and 
barren  as  Sahara.  Spent  the  night  at  Station  Nineteen.  Day's 
travel  sixty-four  miles. 

June  3. — Encountered  several  Indian  villages  moving;  their 
ponies  drawing  the  lodge-poles,  beside  carrying  heavy  loads  upon 
their  backs.  The  life  of  these  Indians  is  simply  a  bivouac,  never 
a  settlement.  The  savages  found  on  our  Atlantic  coast  by  pio 
neer  settlers,  lived  in  permanent  villages,  cultivated  corn,  were 
without  horses,  hunted  on  foot  and  seldom  wandered  far  from 
home.  But  these  prairie  Bedouins  all  travel  on  horseback,  taking 
their  effects  with  them.  At  half  an  hour's  notice  they  gather  up 
their  wives,  children  and  all  other  earthly  possessions  and  start 
on  a  journey  of  hundreds  of  miles.  Reaching  their  destination, 
they  are  entirely  domesticated  in  another  half-hour.  They  do  not 
till  the  ground,  but  live  exclusively  on  fresh  meat,  which  they  eat 
in  enormous  quantities.  This  arid  desert  is  one  of  the  healthiest 
regions  in  the  world,  and  its  pure  air  a  wonderful  appetizer.  The 
regular  allowance  of  the  American  Fur  Company  for  each  em 
ployee  was  eight  pounds  of  buffalo  meat  daily. 

As  usual  passed  hundreds  of  emigrants.  The  latest  coach  from 
Denver  brings  fine  specimens  of  gold  dust,  and  reports  new  rich 
discoveries,  to  the  great  elation  of  all  the  pilgrims.  At  Station 
Twenty-one  where  we  spent  the  night,  we  first  encountered  fresh 
fish  upon  our  table.  Here  the,  enormous  cat-fish  of  Missouri 
and  Kansas  has  dwindled  to  the  little  horned-pout  of  New  Eng 
land,  lost  its  strong  taste  anji  regained  its  legitimate  flavor.  Day's 
travel  fifty-nine  miles. 

June  4. — We  still  follow  the  Republican  which  at  one  point, 
sinks  abruptly  into  the  earth,  running  under  ground  for  twenty 
miles  and  then  gushing  up  again.  We  saw  one  thirsty  emi 
grant  digging  in  the  dry  bed  for  water.  At  the  depth  of  four  or 
five  feet  he  found  it ;  but  it  argues  a  lively  imagination  to  speak 
of  such  a  sand  plain  as  a  river.  These  subterranean  passages  are 
as  common  among  the  streams  of  our  deserts  as  in  the  far  Orient. 

After  riding  twenty -five  miles  without  seeing  a  drop  of  water, 
at  Station  Twenty-two  we  crossed  the  Smoky  Hill  route  which 


176  FIEST    VIEW    OF    PIKE7S    PEAK.  [1859. 

from  a  point  far  south  of  ours,   abruptly  turns  northward  across 
the  Eepublican  to  the  Platte.     Emigrants  who  have  come  by  the 


THE   REPUBLICAN   RIVER. 


Smoky  Hill  tell  us  they  have  suffered  intensely,  one  traveling 
seven ty-five  miles  without  water.  Some  burned  their  wagons, 
killed  their  famishing  cattle  and  continued  on  foot. 

We  are  still  on  the  desert  with  its  soil  white  with  alkali,  its 
stunted  shrubs,  withered  grass,  and  brackish  waters  often  poison 
ous  to  both  cattle  and  men.  Day's  travel  forty -eight  miles. 

June  5. — At  daylight  Pike's  Peak  more  than  a  hundred  miles 
away,  appeared  dim  and  hazy  on  the  horizon  and  we  began  to  feel 
the  inspiring  breath  of  the  mountains.  Most  emigrants  were  en 
camping  out  of  respect  for  the  Sabbath,  and  the  sore  feet  of  their 
cattle,  which  they  carefully  bandaged. 

At  our  dining  station,  Twenty-five,  I  met  several  old  Kansas 
acquaintances,  so  dust-covered  and  sunburnt  that  for  several  min 
utes  I  did  not  know  them.  That  would  be  a  keen-eyed  mother 
who  could  recognize  her  own  son  at  a  glance  under  the  dirt  and 
disguise  of  plains-travel.  Toward  evening,  Pike's  Peak  loomed  up 
grandly  in  the  southwest,  wrapt  in  its  ghostly  mantle  of  snow 
and  streaked  by  deep-cut  gorges  shining  in  the  rays  of  a  blazing 
sunset — 

'The  seal  of  God 
Upon  the  close  of  day.' 

In  the  northwest  Long's  Peak  was  sharply  defined  against  a  mass 


1859.]    INSPIRING   PRESENCE   OF  THE   MOUNTAINS.      177 

of  ominous  black  clouds  which  rising  slowly  left  behind  them  a 
scattered  trail,  dark  and  wild  as  the  locks  of  the  storm-god. 

What  solemn  influences  descend  to  us  from  these  mountain 
summits !  Year  after  year,  upon  their  echoless  heads  has  rested 
the  finger  of  Silence.  Around  their  feet  are  wrapped  the  dark 
pine  forests.  Eigid  and  unimpressible,  yielding  neither  to  sum 
mer's  gentle  ministry  nor  winter's  despotic  strength,  to  the  soft 
touch  of  caressing  winds  and  light-dropping  showers,  nor  the  fierce 
assault  of  warring  blasts,  they  stand  stately  and  undisturbed. 

But  now  human  voices  made  musical  the  solitudes.  The  unac 
customed  air  responded  in  glad  echoes,  and  before  us  smiled  a 
bright  little  valley,  dotted  with  white  tents  and  gleaming  with 
many  camp  fires. 

Supping  at  Station  Twenty-six  we  made  a  comfortable  bed  in 
the  coach,  and  rolling  on  at  the  rate  of  seven  miles  an  hour,  slept 
quietly  through  the  night. 

June  6.— Woke  at  five,  still  in  motion,  and  obtained  a  glorious 
view  of  the  mountains,  their  hoary  peaks  covered  with  snow  and 
their  base,  thirty  miles  across  the  valley  into  which  we  were  de 
scending,  seeming  not  more  than  two  miles  away. 

At  last  we  struck  the  old  trail  from  Santa  Fe  to  Salt  Lake,  rode 
a  mile  along  the  dry  bed  of  Cherry  Creek,  and  at  eight  this 
eleventh  morning  reached  Denver  City.  Day-and-uight's  travel 
one  hundred  and  thirty  miles.  During  our  journey  from  Leaven- 
worth  we  have  doubtless  passed  ten  thousand  emigrants. 

— Making  governments  and  building  towns  are  the  natural  em 
ployments  of  the  migratory  Yankee.  He  takes  to  them  as  in 
stinctively  as  a  young  duck  to  water.  Congregate  a  hundred 
Americans  anywhere  beyond  the  settlements,  and  they  immedi 
ately  lay  out  a  city,  frame  a  State  constitution  and  apply  for  ad 
mission  into  the  Union,  while  twenty-five  of  them  become  candi 
dates  for  the  United  States  Senate. 

True  to  this  instinct,  the  people  of  this  unfledged  community, 
nominally  in  Kansas  but  practically  as  far  from  government  and 
civilization  as  central  Africa,  were  already  making  a  State  consti 
tution  ;  and  months  before,  they  had  laid  out  Denver  City. 

It  was  a  most  forlorn  and  desolate-looking  metropolis.     If  my 


178  DENVER    CITY    IN    ITS    INFANCY.  [1859. 

memory  is  faithful,  there  were  five  women  in  the  whole  gold 
region;  and  the  appearance  of  a  bonnet  in  the  street  was  the 
signal  for  the  entire  population  to  rush  to  the  cabin  doors  and 
gaze  upon  its  wearer  as  at  any  other  natural  curiosity.  The  men 
who  gathered  about  our  coach  on  its  arrival  were  attired  in 
slouched  hats,  tattered  woolen  shirts,  buckskin  pantaloons  and 
moccasins ;  and  had  knives  and  revolvers  suspended  from  their 
belts. 

"We  took  lodgings  at  the  Denver  House.  True  to  the  national 
instinct,  the  occupants  of  its  great  drinking  and  gambling  saloon 
demanded  a  speech.  On  one  side  the  tipplers  at  the  bar  silently 
sipped  their  grog;  on  the  other  the  gamblers  respectfully  sus 
pended  the  shuffling  of  cards  and  the  counting  of  money  from 
their  huge  piles  of  coin,  while  Mr.  Greeley  standing  between 
them,  made  a  strong  anti-drinking  and  anti-gambling  address, 
which  was  received  with  perfect  good  humor. 

Thus  far  no  gold  had  been  discovered  within  sixty  miles  of 
Pike's  Peak  ;  but  the  first  reports  located  the  diggings  near  that 
mountain,  and  *  Pike's  Peak ' — one  of  those  happy  alliterations 
which  stick  like  burs  in  the  public  memory — was  now  the  general 
name  for  this  whole  region. 

The  first  extravagant  statements  had  all  been  based  upon  sup 
position.  Prospectors  found  'the  color' — infinitesimal  quan 
tities  of  the  shining  dust — and  nothing  more,  chiefly  in  the  bed  of 
the  Platte.  The  mountains  had  not  been  searched  to  any  extent. 
So  little  confidence  was  felt  in  the  mines,  that  in  Denver,  picks 
commanded  only  ten  or  fifteen  cents  apiece,  and  town  lots  and 
log  houses  were  bartered  for  revolvers,  or  sold  for  ten  or  twenty 
dollars.  Of  the  few  men  engaged  in  mining,  not  half-a-dozen  were 
realizing  one  dollar  per  day. 

.  But  on  the  sixth  of  May — -just  one  month  before  our  arrival — 
•Tohn  H.  Gregory,  an  old  Georgia  miner,  struck  rich  deposits  of 
gold  in  the  mountains  among  the  head-waters  of  Clear  creek ;  and 
from  that  discovery  dates  the  history  of  Pike's  Peak  as  an  ascer 
tained  gold  region. 


1859.]    STARTING    FOR    THE    GREGORY    DIGGINGS.          179 


CHAPTER    XV. 

ON  the  morning  after  reaching  Denver  we  started  for  the 
Gregory  Diggings,  forty  miles  to  the  northwest.  Along  the  bank 
of  the  Platte  which  bounds  the  town  on  the  north,  immigrant  wag 
ons  extended  for  a  quarter  of  a  mile,  waiting  to  be  ferried  across 
for  two  dollars  and  fifty  cents  each.  The  boat  was  propelled  by 
the  current,  and  its  daily  receipts  were  from  two  to  three  hundred 
dollars. 

Immediately  beyond,  stretched  a  succession  of  low  sandy  hills, 
entirely  destitute  of  trees,  and  with  thin  ashen  grass,  dreary 
enough  to  eyes  familiar  with  the  rich  green  prairies  of  Kansas 
and  Missouri.  But  we  passed  several  ranches  where  idle  cattle 
and  horses,  whose  owners  were  in  the  diggings,  were  kept  and 
guarded  by  the  month  at  from  one  to  two  dollars  per  -head.  By 
day  they  grazed  on  the  desert  and  really  fattened  upon  its  un 
promising  diet.  At  night  they  were  corraled — driven  into  enclos 
ures — to  prevent  them  from  stampeding  and  protect  them  against 
the  cattle-thieves,  which  infest  all  our  frontier  regions  until  exter 
minated  or  frightened  away  by  the  sudden,  decisive  administra 
tion  of  lynch  law. 

From  Denver  to  the  foot  of  the  range  seemed  only  a  stone's 
throw,  but  we  found  it  fifteen  miles.  The  only  well-defined  spur 
is  Table  Mountain ;  which  rises  five  or  six  hundred  feet  from 
the  valley,  with  symmetric  stone  walls.  It  looked  down  upon 
two  little  tents,  then  the  only  dwellings  for  miles ;  but  in  the  in 
tervening  years  it  has  seen  a  thriving  and  promising  manufac 
turing  town  spring  up  under  the  broad  mountain-shadow. 

At  its  base  we  found  Clear  creek,  greatly  swollen  so  we  left 
the  coach,  saddled  our  mules  and  rode  them  through  the  stream 


ISO 


OUR    WEARY    AND    WINDING    WAY. 


[1859,, 


amid  a  crowd  of  emigrants  who  sent  up  three  hearty  cheers  for 
Horace  Greeley.     The  road  was  swarming  with  travelers.     In  the 


distance  they  were  clambering 
right  up  a  hill  as  abrupt  as  the 
roof  of  a  cottage. 

It  seemed  incredible  that 
any  animal  less  agile  than  a 
mountain  goat  could  reach  the 
summit-;  yet  this  road  only 
five  weeks  old,  was  beaten  like 
a  turnpike;  and  far  above  us 
toiled  men  mules  and  cattle 
pigmies  upon  Alps.  Wagons 
carrying  less  than  half  a  ton 
were  drawn  up  by  twenty 
oxen,  while  those  descending 
dragged  huge  trees  in  full 
branch  and  leaf  behind  them,  as  brakes. 

We  all  dismounted  to  ascend  except 
Mr.  Greeley,  still  so  lame  that  his  over 
taxed  mule  was  compelled  to  carry  him. 
The  astonished  brute  yielded  to  destiny 
and  climbed  vigorously,  experiencing 


painfully  the  climax  of  Ossa  upon  Pelion. 


1859.]          IN    THE    HEART    OF    THE    MOUNTAINS.  181 

In  an  hour  and  a  half  we  reached  the  summit.  Far  below,  on 
the  top  of  Table  Mountain  gleamed  a  little  lake.  At  the  foot  of 
the  long  hill  were  the  pigmies  again  ;  and  beyond,  the  valley  of 
the  Platte  with  its  dark  timber  and  shining  water.  Before  us 
mountain  lay  piled  upon  mountain ;  some  grassy,  others  gaunt 
and  bare.  From  most  rose  the  pine,  spruce  and  hemlock  in  perfect 
cones,  interspersed  with  quivering  aspens;  while  brilliant  flowers 
clothed  the  desolate  rocks  with  beauty. 

Our  road  led  us  past  the  new-made  grave  of  a  young  immigrant, 
one  of  many  victims  to  the  careless  use  of  fire-arms.  Up  and  down 
the  steep  mountain  sides,  across  swift-running,  ice-cold  streams, 
over  jagged  rocks  and  through  deep  canyons  overshadowed  by 
sullen  walls,  we  wound  our  toilsome  way.  An  eager  crowd  kept 
pace  with  us ;  some  walking,  others  with  ox- wagons  pack-horses 
or  mules,  and  all  pressing  toward  the  mines. 

At  night  we  turned  our  patient  animals  out  to  graze,  and  en 
camped  under  a  sloping  roof  of  fir  and  pine  boughs.  Our  cook 
elect  kindled  a  blazing  fire,  by  which  we  sat  listening  to  the  con 
flicting  reports  of  the  sanguine  or  disheartened  gold  seekers  ;\  those 
going  forward  led  by  buoyant  hope,  and  those  coming  back 
bringing  dearly-bought  experience. 

Wrapt  in  our  blankets  upon  the  hard  ground,  we  gazed  through 
fir  boughs  at  the  far-off  stars,  until  the  deep  soothing  music  of  the 
pine,  the  Eolian  harp  of  the  forest,  mingled  with  our  dreams. 

The  next  morning  we  started  early,  and  descending  a  steep 
hill  reached  at  last  the  Gregory  Diggings.  The  valley  presented 
a  confused  and  constantly -shifting  picture,  made  up  of  men,  tents, 
wagons,  oxen  and  mules.  The  first  miner  we  encountered  was 
digging  a  hole  like  a  grave  beside  a  little  rivulet,  but  reported  to 
us  that  he  had  not  yet  *  struck  the  color.' 

Along  the  rocky  gulch  for  five  miles  were  scattered  log  cabins, 
tents  and  camps  covered  with  boards  sawn  by  hand  or  with  pine 
boughs.  At  the  grocery  tents,  meat  was  selling  at  fifty  cents  per 
pound ;  and  beside  the  stream  women  were  washing  clothes  at 
three  dollars  per  dozen. 

After  breakfasting  in  the  open  air,  we  went  from  camp  to  camp 
talking  with  miners,  and  studying  their  operations.  They  found 
no  gold  in  the  stream-beds;  but  were  washing  out  the  'rotten 


182         FIRST    RELIABLE    REPORT    OF    THE    MINES.    [185&. 

quartz '  which  they  gathered  from  narrow  crevices  in  the  granite 
on  hill-sides.  Gregory,  Green  Kussell  and  the  pther  old  Georgia 
miners,  very  expert  in  detecting  lodes,  found  abundant  employ 
ment  in  'prospecting'  for  new-comers  at  one  hundred  dollars 
per  day.  In  our  presence  one  miner  washed  two  dollars  and  fifty 
cents  from  a  pan-full  of  dirt,  and  told  us  that  another  pan  had 
just  yielded  him  seventeen  dollars  and  eighty-seven  cents. 

Some  twenty  sluices  were  in  operation.  In  gulch  or  placer- 
mining  the  dirt  is  shoveled  into  a  long  wooden  sluice  or  trough, 
through  which  a  stream  of  water  pours,  washing  away  the  earth 
and  leaving  the^  heavy  gold  dust  at  the  bottom.  These  sluices 
were  of  lumber,  which  was  cut  with  hand-saws  and  commanded 
three  hundred  dollars  per  thousand.  There  was  much  specula 
tion  in  claims ;  some  had  sold  as  high  as  six  thousand  dollars, 
cash. 

Most  of  the  miners  were  exultant  and  hopeful ;  but  a  few,  ut 
terly  discouraged,  were  about  to  return  to  the  States.  There  were 
five  thousand  people  in  the  Gregory  Diggings,  and  hundreds  more 
were  pouring  in  daily. 

Mr.  Greeley,  Henry  Yillard  of  the  Cincinnati  Commercial  and 
myself,  spent  two  days  in  examining  the  gulches  and  conversing 
with  the  workmen  engaged  in  running  sluices.  Most  of  the  com 
panies  reported  to  us  that  they  were  operating  successfully. 
Then  we  joined  in  a  detailed  report,  naming  the  members  of  each 
company  and  their  former  places  of  residence  in  '  the  States,'  (that 
any  who  desired  might  learn  their  reputation  for  truthfulness,)  and 
adding  their  statements  as  to  the  number  of  men  they  were  em- 
plo}dng  and  the  average  yield  of  their  sluices  per  day.  We  en 
deavored  to  give  the  shadows  as  well  as  the  lights  of  the  picture, 
recounting  the  hardships  and  perils  of  the  long  journey,  and  the 
bitter  disappointment  experienced  by  the  unsuccessful  many ;  and 
earnestly  warning  the  public  against  another  general  and  ill- 
advised  rush  to  the  mines.  Little  time  is  required  to  learn  the 
great  truth,  that  digging  gold  is  about  the  hardest  way  on  earth 
to  obtain  it ;  that  in  this  as  in  other  pursuits  great  success  is  very 
rare.  The  report  was  widely  copied  throughout  the  country  as 
the  first  specific,  disinterested  and  trustworthy  account  of  the 
oewly -discovered  placers. 


1859.]      FIRST    MASS    MEETING    AT    PIKE'S    PEAK.  183 

Mr.  Greeley's  presence  afforded  too  good  opportunity  for  speech- 
hearing,  to  be  overlooked  by  his  errant  countrymen.  That  even 
ing  fifteen  hundred  people  assembled,  forming  the  first  mass  meet 
ing  ever  held  in  the  Kocky  Mountains.  It  was  a  motley  gathering 
in  the  open  air,  of  men  with  long  unkempt  locks,  shaggy  beards, 
faces  reduced  by  the  sun  to  the  color  of  a  new  brick,  and  bowie 
knives  and  revolvers  hanging  from  their  belts.  They  gathered  in 
all  the  freedom  of  the  frontier.  Some  were  reclining  upon  the 
ground,  some  sitting  upon  stumps  and  the  half-finished  walls  of 
new  log  buildings,  and  others  perched  upon  the  friendly  limbs  of 
neighboring  trees.  The  presiding  officer  occupied  a  log  instead 
of  a  chair ;  and  one  of  the  speakers  was  clad  in  a  full  suit  of 
buckskin  with  long  fantastic  fringes.  The  meeting,  in  a  grove  of 
stately  pines,  was  called  to  order  as  the  light  of  the  dying  sun 
was  falling  upon  the  gashed  and  rugged  peaks  like  a  benediction. 

Mr.  G.,  received  with  enthusiastic  cheers,  spoke  hopefully  of 
the  mines,  though  he  thought  they  would  not  equal  those  of  Cali 
fornia;  advocated  the  forming  of  a  new  State  without  the 
troublesome  preliminary  form  of  a  Territory ;  and  urged  his 
hearers  to  avoid  drinking  and  gaming,  and  live  as  the  parents, 
wives  and  children  left  at  home  would  desire.  It  was  one  pur 
pose  of  his  trip  to  do  every  thing  in  his  power  toward  hastening 
the  Pacific  railroad,  which  ought  to  have  been  built  long  before, 

After  three  final  cheers  for  the  editor,  the  prolate  judge  of 
the  county,  was  called  up  and  made  glowing  predictions  of  a 
new  Commonwealth,  the  real  Keystone  State  of  the  Union, 
to  spring  here  like  Minerva  from  the  brain  of  Jove.  (This  volu 
ble  speaker  did  not  remain  to  witness  the  fulfillment  of  his 
prophecy,  but  emigrated  to  Montana;  and  after  being  warned 
from  that  Territory  by  the  vigilance  committee  for  suspicious  re 
lations  with  a  gang  of  murderers,  took  up  his  residence  in  Neva 
da.)  When  he  had  concluded,  the  assembled  citizens  were  kind 
enough  to  call  for  me  and  to  applaud  with  due  enthusiasm  my 
brief  invocation  to  the  American  eagle,  and  apotheosis  of  the 
great  Pacific  railway  of  the  future.  Then  the  meeting  adjourned, 
with  cheers  which  made  the  old  mountains  ring.  It  must  have 
astonished  the  wild  elk  and  grizzly  bears  which  until  a  month 
before  had  held  undisputed  sway. 


184 


FREAKS    OF    OUE    ECCENTRIC    MULES. 


[1859 


In  a  little  tent  ambitiously  labeled  the  '  Mountain  City  Hotel, 
six  of  us  spent  the  night  on  the  ground, 

"  Snug 
As  a  bug 
In  a  rug,' 

tying  so  close  that  none  of  us  could  turn  over  separately. 

The  next  day  as  we  descended  from  the  mountains  Mr.  Gr.  was 
so  lame  that  he  could  barely  hobble.  One  of  his  companions  was 
badly  bruised,  being  thrown  from  his  steed  and  dragged  over 
sharp  rocks  by  the  stirrup.  Another,  pitched  from  his  mule  by 
a  broken  girth  and  alighting  on  the  top  of  his  head  upon  a  rock, 
naturally  complained  of  seeing  stars  and  declared  himself  the 

victim  of  misplaced 
confidence.  A  third 
half  submerged  by 
his  stumbling  animal 
w  h  i  1  e  crossi  n  g  C 1  ear 
Creek,  and  quite  cured 
of  his  belief  in  hydro 
pathy,  was  wrung  out 
and  dried  before  an 
immigrant's  fire.  Af 
ter  supping  and  lodg 
ing  with  some  friend 
ly  travelers,  we  reach 
ed  Denver  at  seven  in 
the  morning,  prepared  to  play  '  the 
Serious  Family  '  to  the  satisfaction 
of  the  most  critical. 

The  excitement  of  the  journey 
over,  Mr.  G's.  wounded  limb  which 
had  enjoyed  no  rest  since  the  capsiz 
ing  of  the  coach,  grew  excessively  painful  and  confining.  The 
Denver  House  with  its  ceaseless  noise  and  gambling,  proved  un 
favorable  to  literary  pursuits  ;  so  according  to  the  custom  of  the 
country  we  'jumped  a  cabin:' — selected  the  best  empty  one  we 
could  find,  moved  in  our  effects,  and  took  possession. 


MISPLACED    CONFIDENCE. 


1859.]     OUR    MOST    EXTRAORDINARY    LANDLORD.          185 

'  Imagination  fondly  stoops  to  trace, 
The  parlor  splendors  of  that  festive  place.' 

It  was  twelve  feet  square,  of  hewn  pine  logs  new  and  smooth, 
the  cracks  within  chinked  with  wood  and  outside  plastered  with 
mud.  A  great  fire-place  of  sticks  and  dried  soil  occupied  one  cor 
ner.  A  single  chair  of  elders  fresh  from  the  forest,  with  the  bark 
still  on,  a  little  table  of  the  same  material,  and  the  rare  luxury  of 
a  mattress  resting  upon  slats  laid  across  from  one  log  to  another, 
constituted  the  furniture.  The  roof  was  of  baked  mud  upon  a 
layer  of  split  logs  and  grass ;  the  floor  of  hard,  smooth  earth, 
No  window  invited  adventurous  burglars,  and  the  solitary  door 
which  swung  upon  wooden  hinges,  opened  to  the  touch  of  no  key 
but  a  pen-knife.  We  extemporized  a  shelf  from  which  a  few 
curiously  assorted  books  looked  down  with  a  bewildered  air, 
carpeted  the  ground  with  coffee-sacks — and  did  we  not  take  our 
ease  in  our  inn  ? 

A  few  days  later,  the  owner  of  the  cabin  came  down  from  the 
mines  and  looked  in  upon  us>  quite  unexpectedly ;  but  observing 
that  the  nine  points  of  the  law  were  in  our  favor,  he  apologized 
humbly  for  his  intrusion,  (most  obsequious  and  marvelous  of  land 
lords  !)  begged  us  to  make  ourselves  entirely  at  home,  and  then 
withdrew,  to  jump  the  best  vacant  cabin  he  could  find,  until  the 
departure  of  his  non-paying  tenants.  We  design  exhibiting  him 
at  the  next  world's  fair  as  the  best  specimen  of  the  Polite  Gentle 
man  on  the  terrestrial  globe. 

There  was  little  business ;  money  was  in  great  demand  and 
loaned  on  collateral  security  at  twenty-five  per  cent,  a  month. 

The  experience  of  every  mining  region  demonstrates  that 
salt  pork  is  the  most  nutritive  and  stimulating  diet  for  miners, 
whose  labor  is  the  most  exhausting  in  the  whole  world.  All 
plains  travelers  also  use  it,  on  the  theory  of  the  shrewd  philosopher, 
that  no  other  substance  contains  '  so  much  board  in  so  little  com 
pass.'  As  agriculture  was  not  begun,  vegetables  were  unattain 
able  for  love  or  money.  Late  in  the  season  however,  a  few  enor 
mous  watermelons  appeared  in  market,  selling  at  two  or  three  dol- 
*  lars  apiece.  The  chief  meat  was  antelope,  always  abundant  at 
four  cents  per  pound.  Though  more  tasteless  than  the  flesh  of  the 
deer,  it  is  pleasant  and  nutritive. 


186  COUE  BEST  SOCIETY'  IN  DENVER.          [1859. 

\ 

Denver  society  was  a  strange  medley.  There  were  Americans 
from  every  quarter  of  the  Union,  Mexicans,  Indians,  half- 
breeds,  trappers,  speculators,  gamblers,  desperadoes,  broken-down 
politicians  and  honest  men.  Almost  every  day  was  enlivened  by 
its  little  shooting  match.  While  the  great  gaming  saloon  was 
crowded  with  people,  drunken  ruffians  sometimes  fired  five  or  six 
shots  from  their  revolvers,  frightening  everybody  pell-mell  out  of 
the  room,  but  seldom  wounding  any  one.  One  day  I  heard  the 
bar-keeper  politely  ask  a  man  lying  upon  a  bench  to  remove.  The 
recumbent  replied  to  the  request  with  his  revolver.  Indeed  firing 
at  this  bar-tender  was  a  common  amusement  among  the  guests. 
At  first  he  bore  it  laughingly,  but  one  day  a  shot  grazed  his  ear, 
whereupon,  remarking  that  there  was  such  a  thing  as  carrying  a 
joke  too  far  and  that  this  was  '  about  played  out,'  he  buckled  on 
two  revolvers  and  swore  he  would  kill  the  next  man  who  took 
aim  at  him.  He  was  not  troubled  afterward. 

Gaming  was  universal.  Denver  and  Auraria,  (now  West  Den 
ver,)  contained  about  one  thousand  people,  with  three  hundred 
buildings,  nearly  all  of  hewn  pine  logs.  One  third  were  un 
finished  and  roofless,  having  been  erected  the  previous  win 
ter  for  speculative  purposes.  There  were  very  few  glass  windows 
or  doors  and  but  two  or  three  board  floors.  The  nearest  saw-mill 
was  forty  miles  away,  and  the  occupants  of  the  cabins  lived  upon 
the  native  earth,  hard,  smooth  and  clean-swept.  One  lady,  by  sew 
ing  together  corn -sacks  for  a  carpet  and  covering  her  log  walls 
with  sheets  and  table  cloths,  gave  to  her  mansion  an  appearance  of 
rare  luxury.  Chairs  were  glories  yet  to  come.  Stools  tables  and 
pole-bedsteads  were  the  staple  furniture,  while  rough  boxes  did 
duty  as  bureaus  and  cupboards.  Hearths  and  fire-places  were  of 
adobe,  as  in  Utah  California  and  Mexico.  Chimneys  were  of 
sticks  of  wood  piled  up  like  children's  cob-houses  and  plastered 
with  mud.  A  few  roofs  were  covered  with  shingles  split  by  hand, 
but  most  were  of  logs  spread  with  prairie  grass  and  covered  with 
earth.  They  turned  water  well,  even  during  the  daily  showers  of 
June  and  July.  During  the  rest  of  the  year  rain  is  unknown. 

Between  my  cabin  and  the  Denver  House  were  a  dozen  Indian 
lodges,  enlivened  by  squaws  dressing  the  skins  of  wild  animals  or 
cooking  puppies  for  dinner,  naked  children  playing  in  the  hot 


r 


^  BIRDS  CY£~VltW. 

SKVKN  VIKWS  IN   DKNV^K  COLORADO  1859.  Page  J86. 


1859.]        A    FINISHED    SPECIMEN    OF    A    GAMBLER.        187 

sand  and  braves  lounging  on  the  ground,  wearing  no  clothing 
except  a  narrow  strip  of  cloth  about  the  hips. 

Hundreds  of  immigrants  passed  through  daily;  their  white,  un 
ending  caravans  stretching  across  the  river  to  the  foot  of  the 
range.  Daily  too  a  great  refluent  wave  rolled  in  from  tho 
mountains — dissatisfied  miners  who  sold  their  superfluous  provis 
ions  and  tools  at  less  than  cost  and  started  for  California  or  turned 
homeward. 

The  Denver  House  was  a  long  low  one-story  edifice,  one  hun 
dred  and  thirty  feet  by  thirty-six,  with  log  walls  and  windows 
and  roof  of  white  sheeting.  In  its  spacious  saloon,  the  whole 
width  of  the  building,  the  earth  was  well  sprinkled  to  keep  down 
dust.  The  room  was  always  crowded  with  swarthy  men  armed 
and  in  rough  costumes.  The  bar  sold  enormous  quantities  of 
cigars  and  liquors.  At  half  a  dozen  tables  the  gamblers  were 
always  busy,  day  and  evening.  One  in  woolen  shirt  and  jockey 
cap  drove  a  thriving  business  at  three-card-monte,  which  netted 
him  about  one  hundred  dollars  per  day.  Standing  behind  his 
.little  table  he  would  select  three  cards  from  his  pack,  show  their 
faces  to  the  crowd,  and  thus  begin  : 

'  Here  you  are,  gentlemen ;  this  ace  of  hearts  is  the  winning 
card.  Watch  it  closely.  Follow  it  with  your  eye  as  I  shuffle. 
Here  it  is,  and  now  here,  now  here  and  now,'  (laying  the  three  on 
the  table  with  faces  down) — '  where  ?  If  you  point  it  out  the  first 
time  you  win ;  but  if  you  miss  you  lose.  Here  it  is  you  see,' 
(turning  it  up ;)  '  now  watch  it  again/  (shuffling.)  <  This  ace  of 
hearts  gentlemen  is  the  winning  card.  I  take  no  bets  from  pau 
pers,  cripples  or  orphan  children.  The  ace  of  hearts.  It  is  my 
regular  trade,  gentlemen— to  move  my  hands  quicker  than  your 
eyes.  I  always  have  two  chances  to  your  one.  The  ace  of  hearts. 
If  your  sight  is  quick  enough,  you  beat  me  and  I  pay ;  if  not,  1 
beat  you  and  take  your  money.  The  ace  of  hearts ;  who  will  go 
me  twenty  ?' 

By  this  time  some  bystander  who  has  watched  the  winning 
card  closely  is  confident  that  he  can  point  it  out.  It  seems  per 
fectly  simple.  Beside,  he  noticed  that  one  corner  was  slightly 
turned  up ;  and  is  it  not  there  face  downward  with  the  corner 
still  elevated  ?  Confidently  he  throws  down  a  twenty-dollar  gold 


188  AN    UNFAILING    SUPPLY    OF    VICTIMS.  [1859, 

piece.  The  gambler  covers  it  with  another.  The  victim  points 
to  the  card  with  a  raised  corner  when  lo !  it  is  not  the  ace  of 
hearts  after  all.  At  the  last  moment  the  operator  dexterously 
turned  down  the  corner  of  that  and  turned  up  the  corner  of 
another ! 

*  My  friend,  you  have  lost.  It  is  very  plain  and  simple,  but  you 
can't  always  tell.  Here  you  are,  gentlemen;  the  ace,  and  the  ace. 
Who  will  go  me  twenty  dollars  ?' 

The  last  sufferer,  from  sheer  anger,  bets  again  .and  loses  again. 
After  being  mulcted  of  a  hundred  dollars  he  goes  his  way.  But 
there  is  always  a  fresh  victim  ready  to  take  his  place. 

Sometimes  the  gambler  permits  a  stranger  to  win  once  or  twice 
for  the  sake  of  leading  him  on.  Again  a  bystander  familiar  with 
the  game  wins  two  or  three  times  in  succession ;  then  the  sport 
ing  orator  refuses  to  take  more  bets  from  him.  When  the  game 
flags,  a  secret  confederate  or  '  pigeon'  in  the  crowd  offers  a  few 
wagers  and  wins,  refunding  the  money  when  they  are  alone. 

As  a  class,  the  gamblers  were'  entertaining  in  conversation,  had 
curious  experiences  to  relate,  evinced  great  knowledge  of  hu 
man  nature^  and  were  specially  kind  to  each  other  in  misfortune. 
Some  were  gentlemanly  in  manners.  Like  all  men  who  gain 
money  easily,  they  were  open-handed  and  charitable.  I  never 
saw  a  place  where  more  dollars  could  be  obtained  in  less  time  for 
a  helpless  woman  or  orphan  than  among  those  gaming  tables. 

I  saw  the  probate  judge  of  the  county  lose  thirty  Denver  lots 
in  less  than  ten  minutes,  at  cards,  in  this  public  saloon  on  Sunday 
morning ;  and  afterward  observed  the  county  sheriff  pawning  his 
revolver  for  twenty  dollars  to  spend  in  betting  at  faro  There 
were  no  women  and  children  ;  and  hence  none  of  that  puolic 
opinion  without  which  few  men  can  stand  alone. 

'One  New  Yorker  still  under  thirty -five,  had  been  successively 
owner  of  a  Lake  Erie  steamer,  captain  of  a  Cape  Cod  fishing  craft, 
professional  gambler  in  Cuba,  real-estate  speculator  in  Leaven- 
worth  and  stage  driver  on  the  great  plains.  Here  he  was  a  suc 
cessful  lawyer.  But  when  last  I  saw  him  he  had  been  a  cripple 
for  months — the  result  of  an  accidental  shot  from  the  pistol  of  his 
law  partner,  who  had  taken  a  drop  too  much. 

Among  the  Denver  pioneers  I  found  a  relative  whom  I  had  last 


1859.]  THE    TURNS    OF    FORTUNE'S    WHEEL.  189 

met  as  a  New  York  wholesale  merchant,  in  the  glossiest  of  broad 
cloth  and  the  most  spotless  of  linen.  Now  he  wore  the  half- 
Mexican,  half- Indian  costume  of  the  country.  One  of  the  chief 
thoroughfares,  Blake  street,  still  bears  his  name. 

Denver  had  its  weekly  Rocky  Mountain  News.  Editor  and 
printers  cooked  ate  and  slept  in  the  one  room  of  the  log  building 
where  articles  were  written,  type  set  and  paper  worked  off. 

There  were  no  public  mails.  Private  enterprise  is  always  far 
in  advance  of  Government,  and  the  express  company  brought  all 
letters  from  the  Missouri  river — one  thousand  per  day — for  twenty- 
five  cents  each. 

There  was  no  paper  money  and  the  smallest  coin  in  circulation 
was  twenty-five  cents.  The  people  of  the  frontier  have  never 
taken  kindly  to  coppers.  In  1794,  when  the  first  barrel  of  them 
was  introduced  in  Cincinnati  by  a  merchant,  the  citizens  were  dis 
gusted  arid  his  brother  traders  with  difficulty  restrained  from 
mobbing  him.  In  Kansas  three-cent  pieces  passed  for  five  cents, 
and  in  New  Mexico  eight  dimes  for  one  dollar.  Says  a  European 
writer:  *  Money  must  be  very -plentiful  and  people  very  prosper 
ous,  where  the  smallest  coin  is  five  or  ten  cents.' 

The  thousand  Arapahoes  encamped  in  the  heart  of  the  city 
were  ordinarily  peaceful,  but  dangerous  when  intoxicated.  One 
evening  I  saw  a  brawny  brave,  with  a  club  thwack  two  of  his 
drunken  brethren  upon  their  heads,  so  lustily  that  the  blows  were 
heard  a  quarter  of  a  mile  away.  Then  musing  for  some  minutes, 
he  solemnly  ejaculated : 

<  Whisky  —  bad !     Make  Indian  bad.' 

After  which  bit  of  wisdom  he  walked  thoughtfully  away.  In 
ten  minutes  however,  he  returned  with  a  bottle  and  a  silver  dol 
lar  and  begged  me  to  buy  whisky  for  him.  Like  Hosea  Bige- 
low  he  was  '  in  favor  of  the  Maine  Law,  but  agin'  its  enforce 
ment.' 

The  Arapahoes,  always  treacherous  and  bloodthirsty,  are  now 
almost  extinct  from  wars  and  small-pox — that  terrible  scourge  of 
their  race.  They  are  thoroughly  migratory.  At  a  moment's  no 
tice  they 

'Fold  their  tents  like  the  Arabs 
And  as  silently  steal  away.' 
13 


190  ALMOST    ONE    OF    COOPER'S    HEEOES.  [1859. 

They  sometimes  devour  the  entrails  of  animals  ;  and  I  have  seen 
squaws  and  children  pluck  and  eat  greedily  vermin  from  their 
own  heads.  Chastity  is  unknown  among  their  women ;  and  nearly 
all  suffer  from  loathsome  diseases.  Young  girls  are  sold  by  their 
parents  to  Indians  or  white  men — usually  in  exchange  for  one 
horse ;  but  special  beauty  or  aristocratic  lineage  sometimes  com' 
mands  four  or  five. 

The  savage  like  Falstaff  is  a  coward  on  instinct — also  treacher 
ous,  filthy  and  cruel.  But  one  chief,  the  '  Little  Eaven,'  was  the 
nearest  approximation  1  ever  met  to  the  Ideal  Indian.  He  had  a 
fine  manly  form  and  a  human,  trustworthy  face.  To  spend  an 
hour  in  our  cabin  was  his  custom  always  of  an  afternoon ;  and, 
though  his  entire  ignorance  of  English  was  only  equaled  by  my 
utter  innocence  of  Arapahoe,  we  held  pleasant  communion  to 
gether.  Our  conversations  were  carried  on  by  signs  and  the  very 
few  words  we  had  in  common.  The  tongue  was  weak,  but  the 
gesticulation  eloquent. 

Usually  by  some  means  we  could  make  each  other  compre 
hend  ;  but  twice  or  thrice  we  became,  as  actors  say,  hopelessly 
1  stuck.'  Then  my  visitor  sent  for  one  '  Left  Hand,'  a  linguist;  for 
as  Day  &  Martin  the  great  blacking  manufacturers,  *  kept  a  poet/ 
so  the  chief  of  the  Arapahoes  maintained  an  interpreter.  Left 
Hand  spoke  English  fluently,  having  acquired  it  from  traders  in 
boyhood,  and  soon  extricated  us  from  our  conversational  quag 
mire.  I  will  report  from  memory  one  of  our  interviews : 

Little  Eaven  enters  ;  salutes  me  with  a  cordial  grunt  and  a  shake 
of  the  hand.  I  place  him  in  the  only  chair  our  cabin  affords, 
perching  myself  upon  the  table ;  fill  his  long  pipe  with  Virginia 
tobacco,  light  a  cigar  on  my  own  account ;  and  then  ensues  a 
period  of  solemn  and  smoky  silence.  An  occasional  remark  is 
ventured  about  the  Utes,  the  weather,  the  mines;  gradually  we 
become  communicative  and  at  last  familiar.  He  studies  one  of 
my  maps  with  great  curiosity  and  attention  ;  inquires  earnestly  for 
the  whereabouts  upon  it  of  the  great  father  at  Washington ;  and 
asks  other  questions  which  show  how  vague  stories  of  the  won 
ders  of  civilization  have  thrilled  his  simple  heart,  as  fabulous 
tales  of  the  New  World  thrilled  the  Spaniards  of  old.  At  last 
he  folds  the  map  and  interrogates  me  on  personal  matters : 


1859.]        A    VISIT    FROM    THE    ARAPAHOE    CHIEF. 


191 


Who  is  my  lame  companion  lying  upon  the  bunk? 
I  reply  that  he  is  a  great  chief  and  named  the  '  Goose  Quill/ 
endeavoring  to  explain  that  his  realm  and  authority  are  purely 


A   VISIT   FKOM   LITTLE   HAVEN. 


intellectual,  but  giving  up  in  despair  when  the  Kaven  interrupts 
me  to  ask  how  many  horses  he  owns ! 

Where  is  my  lodge  ? 

I  signify  that  it  is  by  the  great  waters  a  hundred  sleeps  away; 
*it  which  he  gazes  in  wonder,  tinged  with  that  incredulity  which 
civilized  persons  sometimes  manifest  for  the  tales  of  travelers. 

How  many  squaws  and  papooses  have  I  ? 

When  I  have  replied  with  due  humility,  he  exultantly  assures 
me  that  he  is  the  happy  husband  of  seven  squaws  and  the  proud 
parent  of  ten  papooses.  The  comparison  is  odious  ;  he  evidently 
feels  his  social  superiority 

How  many  horses  have  I  ? 


192    -    A    CONVERSATION    WITH    LITTLE    HAVEN.       [1869 

Sorrowfully  I  admit  that  I  can  lay  claim  to  no  solitary  piece  of 
horse-flesh.  The  Raven  answers  by  pointing  triumphantly  at  hit 
thirty  sleek  ponies  grazing  on  the  adjacent  prairie.  As  one's 
wealth  and  position  in  Arapahoe  eyes  depend  solely  upon  the 
number  of  his  wives  and  horses,  I  feel  that  the  Raven  is  becoming 
directly  personal  and  inferentially  abusive.  So  I  place  him  in  the 
witness-box,  and  become  questioner  myself: 

How  many  revolvers  has  he  ? 

He  shrugs  his  shoulders — a  pantomimic  cipher.  I  produce 
Colt's  new  patent  which  he  examines  with  great  curiosity  and  ad 
miration  ;  handling  it  cautiously,  as  if  it  were  an  infernal  machine, 
and  showing  a  childish  satisfaction  not  unmingled  with  terror,  as 
I  discharge  the  five  barrels  in  rapid  succession. 

How  much,  he  ventures  to  ask,  did  it  cost  ? 

I  mention  an  almost  fabulous  sum  and  his  respect  for  me  is 
visibly  augmented.  Even  the  Indian  is  moved  by  the  almighty 
dollar — or  rather  the  almighty  half-dollar ;  for  that  is  the  only  de 
nomination  of  specie  in  which  he  will  receive  payments.  I  follow 
\ip  my  advantage : 

How  many  locomotives  has  he  ? 

A  mournful  shake  of  the  head  is  his  only  response  ;  and  while 
I  convey  to  him  crude  ideas  of  the  fiery,  untiring  monster  which 
'frill  carry  me  further  in  one  sleep  (day)  than  his  fleetest  horse  can 
bear  him  in  ten,  he  manifests  intense  interest,  signifying  that  he 
has  heard  of  the  prodigy  before,  but  never  saw  him.  The  im 
pression  left  upon  his  mind,  that  I  am  the  individual  owner  of 
several  of  these  monsters,  I  am  careful  not  to  dissipate ;  and 
thereafter  he  treats  me  with  the  profound  deference  due  a  '  big  In 
jun'  and  a  fit  associate  of  the  Arapahoe  monarch.  And  so,  the 
topics  of  the  day  exhausted,  with  another  cordial  hand-shakingj 
he  takes  his  departure. 

Alas  for  Little  Raven  !  Immortality  did  not  hedge  the  kings 
and  a  year  later  he  was  killed  in  battle  with  the  Utes. 


1859.]  LITTLE    HAVEN    AS    A    DEVOTEE.  193 


\ 


CHAPTER    XVI. 


LITTLE  EAVEN  was  not  only  brave,  but  devout.  One  day  seek 
ing  him  in  his  own  village,  I  discovered  that  with  several  other 
warriors  he  was  shut  up  in  a  low  lodger  by  which  two  young  sen 
tinels  kept  guard.  The  weather  was  intensely  hot;  the  lodge  with 
out  a  single  aperture  and  covered  with  masses  of  buffalo  robes. 
Beside  it  upon  a  little  mound  of  fresh  earth  were  the  skin  of  a 
wolf  and  the  horns  of  a  buffalo.  Soon  eight  perspiring,  naked 
braves  emerged  and  threw  themselves  upon  the  ground,  utterly 
exhausted.  They  had  been  taking  a  vapor  bath,  to  propitiate 
their  'medicines.' 

That  night  the  entire  band  including  the  women  paraded  the 
town,  pausing  before  many  dwellings  and  drumming  upon  a  cir 
cular  piece  of  buffalo  hide  stretched  over  a  wooden  frame,  while 
they  chanted  a  weird  refrain.  Early  the  next  morning  the  braves 
started  on  the  war  path  against  the  Utes ;  and  this  ceremony  was 
an  invocation  to  the  whites  to  protect  the  squaws  and  children 
during  their  absence. 

The  language  of  the  Arapahoes  is  harsh  and  guttural.  Dubray, 
an  old  trapper  who  had  spent  several  years  among  them,  spoke  it 
fluently,  but  thought  the  tongue  of  a  tribe  in  New  Mexico  much 
more  difficult.  He  said  : 

'  I  lived  among  the  Apaches  eleven  years,  and  only  learned  two 
of  their  words.  I  will  pronounce  them ;  and  if  you  can  repeat 
either  immediately  after  hearing  it,  I  will  give  you  fifty  dollars !' 

He  uttered  them  deliberately,  but  though  they  were  not  com 
posed  of  more  than  four  or  five  syllables,  I  was  utterly  unable  to 
remember  them. 

Philologists  conjecture  that  the  language  of  manual  signs  ori- 


194       INDIAN    SIGNALS, — PEACE    OR    HOSTILITY.    [1859. 

ginated  in  the  infancy  of  the  race,  before  articulate  words.  Deal' 
and  dumb  persons  from  different  quarters  of  the  globe  on  meeting 
for  the  first  time,  converse  readily  by  signs  which  seem  arbitrary, 
but  which  must  be  founded  upon  the  natural  relation  between  ges 
ture  and  thought. 

There  is  a  dialect  of  hands  arms  and  features,  in  common  vogue 
between  mountain  men  and  Indians.  A  trapper  meets  a  dozen 
savages,  all  of  different  tribes,  and  though  no  two  have  ten  ar 
ticulate  words  in  common,  they  converse  for  hours  in  dumb  show, 
comprehending  each  other  perfectly,  and  often  relating  incidents 
which  cause  uproarious  laughter  or  excite  the  sterner  passions. 
To  a  novice,  these  signs  are  no  more  intelligible  than  so  many  va 
garies  of  St.  Vitus'  dance ;  but,  like  all  mysteries,  they  are  simple 
and  significant — after  one  comprehends  them.  The  only  one  I 
recollect  requiring  no  explanation,  is  the  symbol  for  Sioux  In 
dians — drawing  the  finger  across  the  throat,  like  a  knife.  It  is  an 
apt  and  epigrammatic  delineation  of  their  blood-thirsty  character. 

The  Arapahoes  or  '  Smellers '  are  indicated  by  seizing  the  nose 
with  the  thumb  and  forefinger;  the  Comanches  or  'Snakes'  by 
waving  the  hand  like  the  crawling  of  a  reptile ;  the  Cheyennes  or 
'Cut-arms'  by  drawing  the  finger  across  the  arm;  the  Pawnees 
or  'Wolves'  by  placing  a  forefinger  on  each  side  of  the  forehead 
pointing  like  the  sharp  ears  of  the  wolf;  the  Crows  by  clapping 
the  palms  of  the  hands  in  imitation  of  flapping  wings ;  women  by 
moving  the  hand  down  toward  the  shoulder  to  indicate  their  long 
flowing  tresses ;  whites  by  drawing  the  finger  over  the  forehead 
in  suggestion  of  the  hat. 

General  Marcy's  entertaining  work,  'Army  Life  on  the  Border,' 
also  states  that  to  ascertain  whether  strangers  at  a  distance  are 
friends  or  enemies,  some  tribes  raise  the  right  hand  with  the  palm 
in  front,  and  slowly  move  it  forward  and  back.  This  is  a  com 
mand  to  halt  and  will  be  obeyed  if  the  approaching  party  be 
peaceful.  Then  the  right  hand  is  again  raised  and  slowly  moved 
to  right  and  left,  as  an  inquiry  :  '  Who  are  you  ?'  The  strangers 
reply  by  giving  the  sign  of  their  tribe,  or  by  raising  both  hands 
grasped  aS  in  friendly  greeting,  or  with  the  forefingers  firmly  locked 
together  in  emblem  of  peace.  If  enemies,  they  refuse  to  halt,  or 
place  the  shut  hand  against  the  forehead  in  sign  of  hostility. 


1859.]     EXPRESSIVE    FEATURES    AND    GESTURES.  195 

All  Indian  languages  are  so  imperfect  that  even  when  two 
members  -of  the  same  tribe  converse,  half  the  intercourse  is  carried 
on  by  signs.  Mountain  men  become  so  accustomed  to  this,  that 
when  talking  in  their  mother  tongue  upon  the  most  abstract  sub 
jects,  their  arms  and  bodies  will  participate  in  the  conversation. 
Like  the  Kanackas  of  the  Sandwich  Islands  they  are  unable  to  talk 
with  their  hands  tied. 

Thus  the  Greeks  carry  on  long  dialogues  in  silence;  and  the 
Italians  when  in  fear  of  being  overheard  often  stop  in  the  middle 
of  a  sentence,  to  finish  it  in  pantomime.  It  is  even  related  that  a 
great  conspiracy  on  the  Mediterranean  was  organized  not  only 
without  vocal  utterance,  but  by  facial  signs  without  employing  the 
hand  at  all.  How  much  more  expressive  than  spoken  words  is  a 
shrug  of  the  shoulders,  a  scowl,  or  the  turning  up  of  the  nose ! 
The  supple  tongue  may  deceive ;  but  few  can  discipline  the  ex 
pression  of  the  face  into  a  persistent  falsehood ;  and  no  man  can  tell 
a  lie — an  absolute,  unmitigated  lie — with  his  eyes.  If  closely 
and  steadily  watched  they  will  reveal  the  truth,  be  it  love  or  hate 
or  indifference. 

For  three  weeks  after  our  return  from  the  mountains  Mr.  Gree- 
ley  lay  prostrate  with  his  lame  leg.  Indeed  the  injury  was  so 
severe,  that  a  year  later  he  still  limped. 

But  on  the  twenty-first  of  June,  ,he  continued  the  then  danger 
ous  journey  across  the  continent.  In  Green  river  he  lost  his 
valise ;  but  it  was  fished  out  by  sm.  honest  emigrant  and  months 
later,  reached  its  owner  in  New  York.  At  Salt  Lake  he  spent 
several  days  among  the  Saints:  then  pressed  on  through  the 
present  State  of  Nevada,  (containing  when  he  traversed  it  less 
than  a  hundred  white  inhabitants,)  and  across  the  Sierra  Nevadas 
to  California.  There  he  was  visited  with  the  traditional  annoy 
ance  of  plains  travelers — boils  which  covered  his  body,  compel 
ling  him  to  return  home  by  steamer  instead  of  the  Butterfield  over 
land  route. 

After  he  left  me  Denver  grew  monotonous  and  I  again  started 
for  the  mountains.  At  Clear  creek  under  the  vast  shadow  of 
Table  Mountain  I  found  a  new  town  springing  up  called  Golden 
City.  Of  course  its  founders  regarded  it  as  an  embryo  Babylon. 
Golden  City !  How  smoothly  fell  the  unctuous  syllables  from  the 


196 


HO  FOR  THE  MOUNTAINS  AGAIN! 


[1859 


lips.  How  suggestive  of  merchant  princes  and  pockets  full  of 
rocks.  The  El  Dorado  which  Pizarro  sought  was  studded 
with  golden  palaces  and  paved  with  precious  stones — '  the  City  of 
the  Gilded  King;'  but  our  democratic  El  Dorado  must  be  the  city 
of  the  gilded  people. 

Two   miles  further,  a  few  rudimentary  log  huts  were  named 
Golden  Gate.     The  hill-road  of  three  weeks  before  was  already 

abandoned.  I 
entered  the 
mountains  by 
a  newly-cut 
thoroughfare, 
threading  the 
easy  canyon 
of  a  tumbling, 
foamy  brook, 
inclosed  by 
gloomy  walla 
more  than  a 
thousand  feet 
in  hight. 

The  narrow 
pathway     re 
sounded  with 
the   tread   of 
many       feet, 
and   unelastic 
from  weariness  and  disap 
pointment;  others  keeping 
step  to  the  jubilant  song, 

'I'm  bound  for  the  land  of  gold.'  Horses  oxen  and  mules  strug 
gled  on,  heavily  loaded  with  shovels,  sacks  of  flour  sugar  and 
meat.  Many  exhausted  animals  lay  dead  or  dying  along  the  way. 
The  trail  wound  through  grassy  valleys,  among  enormous 
rocks,  beside  mountains  with  icy  springs  gushing  from  their  sides, 
and  up  and  down  rugged  hills  studded  with  tall  pines  and  white- 
stemed  aspens. 

These  cheerful  surroundings  were  succeeded  by  a  dreary  black 


some 


slow 


BURNED    TO   DEATH. 


1859.]  DEATH    FROM    THE    MOUNTAIN    FIRES.  197 

expanse.  Fires  had  raged  for  two  weeks  and  were  still  burning. 
It  was  impossible  to  check  them,  for  the  ground  was  half  covered 
with  dead  fallen  trunks,  and  thickly  carpeted  with  successive  lay 
ers  of  pine  needles  and  pitch,  which  had  accumulated  for  years 
and  were  like  tinder  to  the  hungry  flames.  The  unendurable  heat 
and  suffocating  smoke  drove  me  far  out  of  the  road.  In  one  ravine 
the  miners  had  found  three  charred,  blackened  corpses.  The  vic 
tims  were  evidently  running  for  a  place  of  safety  when  the  chang 
ing  wind  blinded  them  with  smoke,  and  the  fiery  death  overtook 
them.  Their  clothing  was  consumed ;  their  gun-barrels,  a  case- 
knife  and  a  quantity  of  gold  dust  were  the  only  articles  near 
them.  Even  their  dog  had  been  unable  to  escape,  and  his  bones 
lay  beside  theirs.  Several  other  corpses  were  discovered  the  same 
day ;  and  the  number  of  deaths  from  the  fires  was  computed  more 
than  twenty.  Who  shall  sing  in  saddest  strain  of  the  nameless 
graves  which  thicker  than  mile-stones,  dot  the  old  emigrant  roads 
from  Missouri  to  California,  and  wherever  men  have  sought  for 
gold  form  great  cities  of  the  dead  ? 

On  the  route  I  encountered  my  friend  Little  Raven  with  his 
braves,  returning  from  their  expedition.  Their  buckskin  quivers 
and  rifle-cases  were  as  white  and  their  moccasin  fringes  as  gay 
as  ever;  but  the  warriors  were  sad  and  taciturn,  for  the  Utes  had 
fled  and  their  war  path  proved  bloodless. 

I  dined  under  a  tree  with  several  hospitable  Arkansans  who 
were  feasting  upon  raw  salt  pork.  Cooking  a  slice  to  a  crisp 
on  the  end  of  a  long  stick  before  the  camp  fire,  I  found  it  pal 
atable;  but  when  I  asked  for  bread,  they  gave  me  a  stone.  I 
could  neither  bite  break  nor  cut  the  solid  biscuit ;  but  after  soak 
ing  in  the  brook  one  at  last  succumbed  to  my  bowie  knife. 

In  the  evening  I  reached  the  diggings.  A  single  month  had 
changed  them  greatly.  An  incredible  amount  of  work  had  been 
expended  in  seeking  for  gold.  The  same  labor  would  have  con 
verted  hundreds  of  miles  of  Kansas  or  Minnesota  prairies  into  one 
continuous  garden.  Gregory  Gulch  now  rejoiced  in  the  hum  and 
bustle  of  a  city.  Ravines  were  vocal  with  the  crash  of  falling 
pine  and  hemlock,  and  the  ring  of  hammer  ax  pick  and  spade. 
The  women  had  increased  to  more  than  a  hundred.  Every 
mechanical  trade  and  every  traffic  was  pursued.  A  single  '  town ' 


198  EVENING    SCENES    AMONG    THE    MINERS.        [1850. 

lot  had  sold  for  five  hundred  dollars.     "When  I  asked  a  miner  if 
there  was  any  church,  he  replied  : 

*  No  ;  but  we  are  going  to  build  one  before  next  Sunday.' 

Erecting  a  temple  of  worship  in  a  week  was  in  thorough  ac 
cordance  with  the  prevailing  spirit. 

Thousands  of  miners  were  busy  at  the  sluices,  which  now  num 
bered  several  hundred.  All  reported  gold-bearing  rock  abundant ; 
but  as  yet  there  were  no  mills  for  crushing  the  quartz  within  a 
thousand  miles.  The  *  pay  dirt '  was  brought  from  the  hill  sides 
to  the  sluices  in  coffee  sacks,  borne  upon  the  shoulders  or  drawn 
on  rough  sleds  along  smooth  freshly-peeled  pine  trunks — a  rudi- 
mental  inclined-plane  railway. 

Several  miners  were  each  taking  out  two  hundred  dollars  per 
day;  but  not  more  than  one  in  four  was  obtaining  five  dollars, 
By  the  established  regulations  the  size  of  a  claim  was  fifty 
feet  by  one  hundred ;  and  some  were  selling  at  from  ten  to  forty 
thousand  dollars.  Generally  only  a  few  hundred  dollars  of  the 
purchase  money  was  paid  down ;  if  the  claim  did  not  yield  the 
balance  it  was  never  liquidated. 

Climbing  a  hill  side,  I  obtained  a  vivid  evening  view  of  the 
Alpine  city.  Beyond  it  a  fire  was  raging  upon  an  isolated  peak. 
The  flame  swept  evenly  higher  and  higher,  till  at  the  summit, 
striking  a  single  dead  tree,  it  ran  fiercely  up  the  trunk  into  a 
perfect  cone  of  fire,  against  a  background  of  mountain  and  cloud. 

At  my  feet  the  valley  was  lighted  with  scores  of  camp-fires, 
casting  the  shadows  of  tall  pines  and  firs  in  every  direction,  and 
throwing  a  lurid  glare  upon  the  swarthy  faces  of  the  miners. 
Some  were  cooking  in  the  open  air,  some  taking  their  evening 
meal  upon  tables  of  pine  bark,  and  others  sitting  upon  logs  or 
reclining  upon  the  ground  smoking  and  talking. 

.  From  one  camp  issued  the  lively  notes  of  a  violin  ;  and  from 
another,  '  Home,  sweet  home '  floating  forth  upon  the  evening  air 
in  a  low,  plaintive  voice,  told  that  the  heart  of  the  singer  was 
with  dear  ones  far  away. 

On  Sunday  morning,  a  walk  through  the  diggings  revealed 
nearly  all  the  miners  disguised  in  clean  clothing.  Some  were 
reading  and  writing  letters,  some  ministering  to  the  sick,  and  some 
enacting  the  part  of  Every-man-his-own-washer- woman — rubbing 


1859.]       THE    GREGORY    DIGGINGS    ON    SUNDAY.  199 

valiantly  away  at  the  tub.  Several  hundred  men,  in  the  open 
air,  were  attending  public  religious  worship — perhaps  the  first 
ever  held  in  the  Rocky  Mountains.  They  were  roughly  clad, 
displaying  weapons  at  their  belts;  and  represented  every  sec 
tion  of  the  Union  and  almost  every  nation  of  the  earth.  They 
sat  upon  logs  and  stumps,  a  most  attentive  congregation,  while 
the  clergyman  upon  a  rude  log  platform,  preached  from  the 
text:  'Behold,  I, bring  you  good  tidings  of  great  joy.'  It  was 
an  impressive  spectacle — that  motley  gathering  of  gold-seekers 
among  the  mountains,  a  thousand  miles  from  home  and  civiliza 
tion,  to  hear  the  '  good  tidings  '  forever  old  and  yet  forever  new. 

During  the  two  weeks  I  spent  in  the  mines  the  unhealthy  diet 
and  miasma  arising  from  the  freshly -broken  earth,  produced  much 
fever.  Many  a  poor  fellow  weak  and  listless,  on  straw  bunk  in 
squalid  cabin,  waited  the  approach  of  that  grim  speuter  with 
whom  the  ancients  found  prayers  and  sacrifices  alike  unavailing. 
Many  with  folded  arms  and  rigid  faces  were  consigned  by  stran 
gers  to  hill-side  graves,  with  no  child's  voice  to  prattle  its  simple 
sorrow,  no  woman's  tear  to  bedew  their  memory. 

We  slept  upon  the  ground  under  fir  boughs.  The  sweetest  of 
all  rest  is  on  the  bosom  of  mother  earth,  watched  by  sentinel  stars, 
lulled  by  the  sad-hearted  pine  and  falling  water. 

I  found  in  one  camp  a  party  of  Kansas  acquaintances  living 
upon  ham  and  eggs.  The  latter  were  a  rare  luxury,  costing  two 
dollars  and  fifty  cents  per  dozen.  My  friends  had  packed  several 
barrels  in  Leavenworth,  pouring  liquid  lard  around  the  eggs, 
which  forming  a  mold  enabled  them  to  sustain  with  admirable 
composure  their  wagon-journey  of  seven  hundred  miles. 

Flour  sold  at  twenty  dollars  per  hundred,  and  milk  at  fifty 
cents  a  quart.  Flapjacks  were  the  substitute  for  bread.  I  think 
enough  were  made  during  the  season  to  pave  the  road  from 
Leavenworth  to  the  mines.  At  every  camp  one  saw  perspiring 
men  bending  ^anxiously  .over  the  griddle,  or  turning  the  cake 
by  tossing  it  skillfully  in  the  air.  To  a  looker-on,  such  masculine 
feats  were  decidedly  amusing.  Four  years  later,  in  rebel  prisons, 
I  found  practical  cookery  far  less  entertaining. 

Many  professional  men  were  hard  at  work  in  the  diggings. 
One  often  heard  sunburnt  miners  while  resting  upon  their 


200      INTELLECTUAL,    AK  GUMENT  ATI  VE   MINERS.    [1859, 


FLAPJACKS. 


spades,  discussing  Shakspeare,  the  classics,  religion,  and  political 
economy. 

The  stream  beds  abounded 
in  mica,  which  old  miners  call 
'  fools'  gold.'  A  shrewd  Ger 
man  washed  out  and  secreted 
an  immense  quantity,  suppos* 
ing  he  had  discovered  a  new 
Golconda.  Upon  learning 
that  it  was  not  the  precious 
metal  he  started  back  in  dis 
gust  to  the  Pennsylvania  coal 
mines. 

When  the  melancholy  John 
Phenix  occupied  the  tripod  of 
the  San  Diego  Herald,  he  ad 
vertised  for  a  lad  to  bring 
water,  black  his  boots  and 
keep  the  sanctum  in  order — 
one  by  whom  obtaining  a 

knowledge  of  the  business  would  be  deemed  a  sufficient  compen 
sation.  The  caution  which  he  added — '  No  young  woman  in  dis 
guise  need  apply  ' — was  needful  in  a  mining  country.  I  encoun* 
tered  in  the.  diggings  several  women  dressed  in  masculine  apparel, 
and  each  telling  some  romantic  story  of  her  past  life.  One  aver 
red  that  she  had  twice  crossed  the  plains  to  California  with  droves 
of  cattle.  Some  were  adventurers;  all  were  of  the  wretched  class 
against  which  society  shuts  its  iron  doors,  bidding  them  hasten 
in-cared-for  to  destruction. 

The  Utes*  killed  a  number  of  the  miners.  William  M. 
Slaughter  a  Denver  pioneer,  was  out  prospecting  with  two  friends, 
when  these  savages,  after  dining  with  them  in  apparent  friendli 
ness,  attacked  the  party,  killing  and  scalping  two.  Slaughter 

*  Or  '  Utahs  ' — an  Indian  word  signifying  '  Dwellers  among  the  Mountain  Tops.' 
Those  living  near  the  Great  Salt  Lake  were  called  'Pah'  (or  water,)  'Utes,' — cor 
rupted  into  '  Pi-Utes.'  The  Utahs  were  once  a  powerful  nation,  though  embracing 
some  wretched  bands  of  Diggers  who  subsisted  upon  roots,  worms  and  grasshoppers, 
wad  were  perhaps  the  lowest  of  the  human  race. 


1859.]    PREDICTIONS  OF   GOLD  AND  AGRICULTURE.      201 

though   repeatedly   shot  at,    sprang  into  the    bushes,    concealed 
himself  two  days,  and  finally  escaped. 

After  spending  six  weeks  in  the  new  gold  region,  my  published 
impression  of  the  mines  was  thus  summed  up  : 

1 1  have  absolute  confidence  in  the  permanency  extent  and  richness  of  these  dig' 
gings.  I  believe  that  the  mountain  ranges,  from  Salt  Lake  to  Mexico,  abound  in  gold, 
and  the  secondary  metals,  and  that  their  yield  will  be  the  richest  ever  known  in  the 
world.  Yet  those  who  are  doing  moderately  well  at  home  should  remember  that  not 
more  than  one  man  in  ten  meets  with  success  in  any  mining  country,  and  that 
the  prairies  of  Kansas  Nebraska  and  Missouri  offer  much  stronger  inducements  to 
settlers  than  the  gold  regions.' 

I  also  hazarded  the  prediction  that  with  proper  cultivation  the 
valleys  of  the  Platte  and  its  tributaries  within  fifty  .miles  of  Denver, 
would  produce  enough  small  grains  and  vegetables  to  support  a 
population  of  two  hundred  thousand.  This  was  scoffed  at ;  and  the 
arid  sands  did  look  unpromising.  But  now  the  settlers  of  Colo 
rado  have  tested  the  agriculture  of  their  new  State,  and  yearly 
they  raise  enough  farm  produce  for  their  own  consumption. 

Eeturning  down  the  mountains  I  found  opportunity  to  contrast 
the  two  classes  common  to  all  gold  regions.  The  new-comers 
going  into  the  mines  were  sanguine  and  cheery,  climbing  with 
elastic  step,  and  beguiling  the  way  with  song  and  laughter.  But 
the  stampeders  turning  homeward,  convinced  that  gold  digging 
was  hard  and  unremunerative,  left  their  packs  and  shovels  behind, 
and  trudged  mechanically  with  downcast  woe-begone  faces. 

Reaching  Denver  again,  I  found  the  'jumped  cabin '  lonely,  and 
the  novelties  of  the  city  exhausted.  So  early  in  July  I  started 
eastward.  The  stage  line  had  been  transferred  from  the  Republi 
can  to  the  northern  route.  For  four  hundred  miles  from  Denver 
it  followed  down  the  valley  of  that  long  tributary  of  the  Missouri, 
which  the  Indians  call  the  Nebraska,  and  French  traders  named 
the  Platte — both  appellations  signifying  shallow.  They  are 
specially  fitting ;  for  though  the  broad  stream  appears  sufficient  to 
float  the  navies  of  the  world,  it  averages  less  than  a  foot  in  depth 
and  abounds  in  treacherous  quicksands.  Many  discouraged  miners 
were  attempting  to  descend  in  boats,  but  sooner  or  later  all  were 
skiff-wrecked.  One  Boston  physician  lost  his  boat  and  entire 
outfit,  and  when  I  saw  him  had  just  escaped  from  the  river 


202 


A    SHREWD    CALIFORNIA    EMIGRANT. 


[1859. 


minus  every  article  of  personal  property  except  a  single  shirt 
which  he  '  happened  to  have  about  him  at  the  time.' 

The  Platte  mosquitoes 
covered  our  mules  with 
blood,  and  lacerated  me 
through  the  thick  sleeves 
of  two  woolen  shirts.  Our 
untiring  coach  rolled  day 
and  night,  halting  only  for 
meals  and  changes  of 
teams. 

We  passed  the  Cache  a 
la  Poudre  (Burial  of  the 
Powder)  creek,  named 
from  an  old  French  trap 
per,  who  years  before  inter 
red  a  quantity  of  powder  to 
conceal  it  from  the  Indians. 
Cache  (to  hide,)  is  a  very 
common  word  through 
out  the  far  West  for  any 
thing  concealed  in  the 
ground.  In  1848  a  shrewd 

California  emigrant,  whose  cattle  died  near  Fort  Laramie,  cached 
sundry  casks  of  brandy  by  the  road-side ;  piled  the  earth  in  the 
form  of  a  grave ;  erected  a  head-board  and  inscribed  upon  it  the 
name,  age,  nativity  and  virtues  of  a  fabulous  traveler,  representing 
that  he  died  of  cholera.  The  ruse  succeeded  admirably ;  after 
reaching  San  Francisco  he  sold  the  spirits  at  a  large  profit  to  a 
person  who  returned  and  exhumed  them. 

At  the  South  Platte  Crossing  where  our  road  struck  the  old 
emigrant  trail  from  the  Missouri  to  Salt  Lake,  we  found  several 
lodges  of  Sioux  Indians,  who  termed  our  mail  coach  the  '  paper- 
wagon,'  the  little  log  post-office  the  '  paper  house,'  and  our  driver 
the  '  king  of  the  mules.' 

Among  thousands  of  returning  emigrants  we  passed  one  jovial 
party  with  a  huge  charcoal  sketch  of  an  elephant  upon  their  wagon 
cover,  labeled :  '  What  we  saw  at  Pike's  Peak.' 


GOING    INTO   THE   MINES. 


1859.] 


BEAUTY    OF    OUR    INDIAN    CORN. 


203 


The  Platte  valley,  level  as  a  floor  from  the  Kocky  Mountains  to 
the  Missouri,  is  the  best  natural  route  for  a  railway  in  the  world. 
Though    without     timber 
it  is   well   supplied    with 
grass,  and  it  ranges  from 
five   to    fifteen    miles    in 
width. 

At  Fort  Kearney,  a 
Federal  military  post  with 
wooden  and  adobe  bar 
racks,  our  road  left  the 
Platte.  Soon  the  soil  grew 
less  sandy  and  more  fertile. 
After  we  crossed  the  Blue 
rivers,  dram-shops  and  pa 
per  cities — advance  guards 
of  civilization — began  to 
appear ;  then  occasional 
farms ;  then  live  towns  and 
flourishing  settlements. 
We  were  in  the  world 
again.  Coming  from  rug. 
ged  mountains  and  dreary 

deserts,  the  first  grain  field  seemed  to  me  the  most  beautiful  of 
gardens.  How  little  we  appreciate  the  beauty  of  Indian  corn ! 
Few  of  our  poets  deign  to  mention  it,  though  Holmes  has  a  pass 
ing  tribute : 

'The  green-haired  maize,  her  silken  tresses  laid 
In  soft  luxuriance  on  her  harsh  brocade.' 

A  German  florist  after  exhibiting  to  an  American  his  rarest 
plants,  added: 

'Now  I  will  show  you  the  most  beautiful  of  all;' and  then  con 
ducted  the  visitor  to  a  stalk  of  Indian  corn.  The  American  re 
plied  contemptuously  that  he  had  ridden  for  fifty  miles  through 
unbroken  fields  of  that  plant ;  but  the  German  was  not  far  wrong. 

We  reached  Leavenworth  in  six  days  and  twenty  hours  from 
Denver,  then  the  -quickest  trip  ever  made. 


COMING  OUT. 


204         THE    GREAT    MISSOUKI    IBON    MOUNTAINS.    [1859. 


CHAPTER    XVII. 

I  visited  the  iron  region  of  Missouri,  eighty  miles  south 
of  St.  Louis,  embracing  Pilot  Knob,  Iron  Mountain,  and  Shep 
herd's  Mountain.  These  are  eastern  spurs  of  the  Ozark  hills  or 
high  table-lands  which  range  from  one  thousand  to  one  thousand 
five  hundred  feet  above  sea  level. 

The  St.  Louis  and  Iron  Mountain  railway  terminates  at  Pilot 
Knob,  a  conical  hill  of  solid  ore  six  hundred  feet  high,  and  cover 
ing  three  hundred  and  sixty  acres.  Only  two  furnaces  were  in 
operation,  turning  out  about  thirty  tons  of  pig-iron  per  day.  The 
sides  of  the  mountain  are  covered  with  oak  hickory  and  ash  sap 
lings.  The  summit  is  a  mass  of  enormous  bowlders  fifty  feet  high, 
and  upheaved  into  every  conceivable  position.  Some  stand  erect, 
sharply  denned  pillars.  Two,  a  few  feet  apart,  form  a  gigantic 
natural  gateway.  Another  huge  slab  leaning  against  a  solid  wall 
constitutes  a  picturesque  cave.  Though  exposed  to  the  atmos 
phere  for  centuries,  these  bowlders  contain  fifty  per  cent,  of  iron. 
Below  the  surface,  the  rock  contains  sixty  per  cent. 

The  miners  were  digging  horizontally  into  the  mountain,  drill 
ing,  blasting,  and  prying  off  great  fragments  of  rock  which  fell 
crashing  over  a  little  precipice.  In  the  pit  below,  some  were 
breaking  up  these  fragments  with  sledge  hammers ;  others  loading 
them  into  cars  which  conveyed  the  ore  by  an  inclined-plane  rail 
way  to  furnaces  at  the  base. 

In  European  mines  the  clothing  of  workmen  is  carefully 
examined  at  night,  to  see  that  they  do  not  carry  away  ore.  But 
here,  a  few  hundred  blocks  as  large  as  a  dwelling  house  would  not 
be  missed.  The  laborers  were  French,  German  and  Irish. 

Five  miles  further  north  is  the  Iron  Mountain — a  slight  eleva- 


1859.] 


QUARRYING    OUT    THE    IRON    ORE. 


205 


tion  over  which  the  railway  to  St.  Louis  passes.     Busy  laborers 
were  blasting  out  and  breaking  the  ore,  within  a  few  yards  of  the 


track.  In  1833, 
this  mountain 
was  '  entered 


IRON  MINERS  AT   WORK. 


Three  years 
later,  the  en 
tire  tract  sold 
for  six  hun 
dred  dollars. 
Its  present 
value  is  in- 


in  the  land- 
office  at  one 
dollar  and  a 
quarter  an  acre. 

calculable;  for  it  is  the  largest  and  richest  mass  of  iron  yet 
found  upon  the  globe.  Its  base  covers  five  hundred  acres. 
The  ore,  which  contains  seventy-one  per  cent,  of  pure  iron,  has 
been  penetrated  nearly  four  hundred  feet  below  the  surface,  with 
no  sign  of  exhaustion  even  at  that  depth. 

In  reducing,  crude  blocks  one  or  two  feet  in  diameter  are 
placed  upon  a  foundation  of  logs,  in  alternate  layers  of  charcoal 
and  ore,  until  they  form  a  huge  pile.  For  a  month  they  are 

U 


206         TWENTY-SEVEN  HUNDRED,    FAHRENHEIT.    [1859. 

exposed  to  a  fire  as  hot  as  they  can  endure  without  melting.  This 
expels  impurities,  and  leaves  the  ore  brittle  and  easily  broken  into 
lumps  three  or  four  inches  thick. 

It  is  next  hauled  to  the  furnaces  and  cast  into  their  fiery  jaws 
together  with  limestone  and  charcoal  in  proportions  varying  with 
its  quality.  The  furnaces  are  either  '  hot  blast '  or  '  cold  blast,' 
according  to  the  strong  currents  of  hot  or  cold  air  pumped  into 
them  to  supply  oxygen,  without  which  the  ore  would  turn  to 
'  cinder,'  yielding  no  iron.  The  heat  is  two  thousand  seven  hun 
dred  degrees  Fahrenheit. 

The  cinder,  separating  from  the  iron,  rises  to  the  surface  of  the 
molten  mass,  and  is  skimmed  off.  Some  of  it  hardens  into  a  dark 
mass  resembling  coke,  coarse  glass  or  variegated  marble.  But 
when  the  charges  and  blasts  are  properly  adjusted,  it  is  white  as 
snow  and  like  the  most  exquisite  moss  suddenly  petrified. 

The  ore  remains  in  the  furnace  some  twelve  hours.  Then  from 
the  bottom  of  the  great  crucible  it  pours  a  red,  glowing  stream 
into  molds  of  sand  where  it  hardens  into  '  pigs.'  The  workmen 
guide  these  dazzling  currents  of  liquid  fire  into  their  proper  chan 
nels  with  long-handled  hoes. 

By  night  the  furnace  buildings, — with  their  brick  arches,  black 
ened  roofs,  clouds  of  smoke,  fiery  torrents  a»d  sooty  workmen 
darting  hither  and  thither,  catching  lurid  gleams  on  their  dark 
faces, — are  grotesquely  suggestive  of  Pandemonium,  and  contrast 
sharply  with  the  white  villages  and  the  dark  wooded  hills. 

Shepherd's  Mountain  contains  rich  ore,  but  has  been  little 
mined.  All  these  iron  hills  are  of  volcanic  origin.  In  1866  the 
furnaces  of  Missouri  turned  out  twenty -five  thousand  tons  of  do- 
mestic  iron.  The  State  geologist  reports  in  this  vicinity  sufficient 
deposits  of  ore  near  the  surface  to  yield  one  million  tons  per  an 
num  of  manufactured  iron,  for  the  next  two  hundred  years ! 

A  few  miles  distant  is  the  solid  Granite  Knob  in  the  heart  of  a 
great  limestone  region — almost  the  only  granite  between  the 
Kocky  Mountains  and  the  Alleghanies. 

On  the  fifteenth  of  August  I  again  started  for  the  far  frontier. 
At  Syracuse,  one  hundred  and  sixty-eight  miles  west  of  St.  Louis, 
and  then  terminus  of  the  Missouri  Pacific  Eailway,  I  left  the  cars 
for  a  coach  of  the  Butterfield  Mail  Company. 


1859.]  WARSAW'S  LAST  CHAMPIONS— AND  SOAP.       207 

Our  coach,  leaving  Syracuse  after  dark,  jolted  along  for  fifty 
miles  during  the  night,  and  at  sunrise  stopped  for  breakfast  in 
Warsaw,  Benton  county — a  genuine  southern  town,  surrounding  a 
hollow  square  with  court-house  in  the  center ;  streets  gullied  by 
water  and  overgrown  with  weeds ;  frame  houses,  log  houses  and 
stucco  houses,  with  deep  porticoes  and  shade  trees ;  negroes  trudg 
ing  with  burdens  upon  their  heads ;  deserted  buildings ;  tumbling 
fences  and  a  general  tendency  to  'the  demnition  bow  wows.' 
While  washing  on  the  hotel  porch  we  asked  the  host  for  soap. 

LANDLORD,  (imperious  and  tobacco-stained.) — Soap  for  the 
gentlemen. 

CLERK,  (obsequious  and  flippant.) — Soap  for  the  gentlemen. 

PORTER,  (white  and  Celtic.) — Soap  for  the  jintilmin. 

WAITER,  (white-eyed  and  Ethiopic.) — Cook,  bring  soap  for  de 
gemmen  and  be  quick  about  it ! 

The  cross-eyed  cook,  from  Afric's  sunny  fountain,  at  last 
appeared  with  the  longed-for  article;  but  the  incident  was  a 
shining  illustration  of  the  Institution. 

We  forded  the  Osage  though  it  is  navigable  above  Warsaw  for 
half  the  year.  The  region  was  hilly  and  rocky,  intersected  by 
many  streams  and  timbered  with  a  dozen  varieties  of  oak ;  the 
houses  long  and  low  with  outside  chimneys ;  corn  the  principal 
crop;  great  numbers  of  cattle  raised  chiefly  for  the  California 
market;  and  not  more  than  one  farmer  in  ten  owning  slaves. 

After  passing  some  beautiful  prairies  and  enduring  another  night 
of  uneasy  slumber,  we  woke  in  Springfield,  on  the  summit  of  the 
Ozark  Mountains — the  leading  town  of  southwestern  Missouri. 
Here  was  the  office  for  the  sale  of  Government  land  in  that  quar 
ter  of  the  StateT  amounting  to  three  millions  of  acres.  Some  of 
this  was  subject  to  entry  at  twenty-five  cents  per  acre ;  but  settlers 
had  secured  the  fertile  tracts  years  before,  and  the  residue  was 
rough  and  sterile. 

Springfield  had  pleasant,  vine-trellised  dwellings,  and  two  thou 
sand  five  hundred  people.  The  low  straggling  hotel  with  high 
belfry,  was  on  the  rural  southern  model:  dining-room  full  of 
flies,  with  a  long  paper-covered  frame  swinging  to  and  fro  over 
the  table  to  keep  them  from  the  food ;  the  bill  of  fare,  bacon  corn 
bread  and  coffee ;  the  rooms  ill- furnished,  towels  missing,  pitchers 


208          LYNCHING    IN    SPKINGFIELD,    MISSOUKI.     [1859. 

empty,  and  the  bed  and  table  linen  seeming  to  have  been  dragged 
through  the  nearest  pond,  and  dried  upon  gridirons. 

During  my  stay  a  half-witted  negro  was  arrested  for  outraging 
a  lady.  In  the  fierce  excitement  it  aroused,  some  hot-heads  pro 
posed  collecting  all  the  slaves  from  the  adjacent  farms,  and  burn 
ing  them  on  the  public  square.  Two  years  earlier,  two  negroes 
had  been  burnt  at  the  stake  in  Jasper,  the  second  county  to  the 
west,  for  a  similar  crime,  aggravated  by  the  murder  of  their  vic 
tim  and  her  family.  Now,  Springfield  would  have  no  burning, 
declaring  it  too  barbarous.  But  on  the  second  day  a  mob  broke 
into  the  hall  where  the  negro  was  confined,  took  him  from  the 
officers,  who  did  not  attempt  resistance,  and  hooting  and  yelling 
ran  with  him  to  the  outskirts  of  the  village  and  hung  him  upon  a 
locust  tree.  He  seemed  to  die  of  fright,  for  he  never  struggled 
after  he  was  drawn  up  over  the  limb.  Leading  citizens  assured 
me  that  for  the  same  offense  a  white  man  would  have  received 
the  same  punishment;  but  how  terribly  unjust  the  system  which, 
denying  light  and  education  to  these  poor  creatures,  still  held 
them  to  a  strict  criminal  responsibility ! 

Many  immigrants  were  passing  through  the  town.  I  was  told 
of  eight  North  Carolinians  bound  for  Arkansas,  who  stopped  a  few 
hours  on  the  public  square,  and  were  asked  innumerable  ques 
tions.  One  communicative  fellow  replied  that  they  were  going  to 
found  a  town ;  the  pursuit  of  each  person  was  already  marked 
out,  and  there  were  no  drones  among  them. 

What  was  this  man  to  do  ? 

He  was  to  open  a  store.. 

And  that  ? 

Start  a  blacksmith's  shop;. 

And  the  other,  standing  behind  him  ? 

Engage  in  sheep  raising. 

So  they  were  nearly  all  classified,  when  a  decrepid,  white-haired 
octogenarian,  venerable  enough  for  old  Time  himself,  was  observed 
sitting  in  one  of  the  wagons. 

'  Why,  who  is  that  ?'  asked  the  eager  questioner. 

'  That's  my  grandfather.' 

'  What  is  he  going  to  do  ?  He  can't  be  of  any  use  to  your 
settlement.' 


1859.]        EFFECT    OF    THE    WAR    UPON    MISSOURI.  209 

'  0  yes,'  replied  the  North  Carolinian  promptly,  '  we  are  taking 
the  old  man  along  to  start  a  graveyard  with !' 

Missouri  with  her  unequaled  resources  of  timber,  coal,  iron, 
lead,  stone,  and  farming  lands — with  an  area  larger  than  New  Eng 
land,  a  genial  climate,  central  position,  and  the  grandest  rivers  of 
the  world  bounding  her  on  two  sides — was  now  prosperous  and 
flourishing.  Two  years  later  I  passed  over  the  same  route  from 
St.  Louis,  to  find  the  country  blazing  with  civil  war  which  swept 
away  many  fruits  of  the  labor  of  twenty  years.  But  it  extirpated 
the  poison  that  embittered  her  springs  of  life ;  removed  forever 
the  mammoth  stumbling-block  from  her  path  of  progress;  cut 
loose  the  fetters  that  bound  the  young  giantess  hand  and  foot. 

From  Springfield  I  continued  by  coach  sixty- five  miles  to  the 
little,  dilapidated  settlement  of  Cassville,  where  I  left  the  coach  for 
the  great  Lead  Region.  The  village  merchant  was  sitting  upon  a 
keg  in  front  of  his  grocery  smoking  a  pipe. 

Could  he  tell  me  the  distance  to  Granby  ? 

About  thirty-four  miles,  he  reckoned.  Was  never  thar,  but  had 
been  in  sight  of  the  siminary. 

Could  he  furnish  me  with  a  horse  ? 

Whar  was  I  from  ? 

Kansas. 

Not  born  thar  ? 

No ;  in  Massachusetts. 

Ah  !  (suspiciously)  Did  I  allow  to  settle  in  these  parts? 

No ;  only  to  visit  the  Lead  Eegion.  Could  he  let  me  have  a 
horse  ? 

He  reckoned  not.  One  of  his  creturs  was  at  work,  another 
lame,  and  the  third,  though  a  right  peert  beast,  too  thin  for  the 
journey.  But  probably  Jones,  over  across  the  field  thar,  could. 

In  consideration  of  two  dollars,  Jones  furnished  a  hardy  little 
pony,  and  I  started  on  my  forest  ride.  It  led  by  a  few  thriving 
orchards,  corn-fields  dotted  with  blackened  stumps,  and  low  log 
dwellings  with  looms  and  spinning  wheels  on  their  porches. 
Beyond  the  little  village  of  '  Gad-fly '  I  stopped  at  one  of  these 
farm-houses  for  a  drink  of  water.  An  old  woman  smoking  a 
long  pipe  and  knitting  on  the  porch  was  ready  for  a  chat. 

This  was  a  healthy  country,  though  thar  was  some  chilling ; 


210  CONVERSATIONS    WITH    THE    SETTLERS.       [1859. 

but  then  stranger  they  did'nt  mind  that  much.  She  was  born  irj 
Yirginny,  had  lived  in  Kaintuck;  but  was  never  in  a  free  State. 
She  did'nt  think  much  of  slavery,  but  we  had  the  niggers  and 
what  could  we  do  with  them  ?  They  were  lazy  and  thriftless, 
making  a  heap  of  care  and  bother.  But  somebody  must  do  the 
work.  The  North  employed  poor  whites,  who,  she  reckoned, 
were  no  better  off  than  our  niggers. 

I  dined  with  a  young  squatter  whose  lonely  cabin  was  glad 
dened  by  five  blue-eyed  children  though  his  wife  was  but  twenty- 
five.  She  was  born  in  this  country  and  thought  it  a  mighty  rough 
one.  Last  winter  she  and  her  old  man  traveled  all  through 
Texas,  hard-on-to  a  thousand  miles,  and  seed  more  than  she  would 
have  learned  in  a  life-time  at  home.  Texas  was  a  mighty  fino 
country,  but  a  poor  place  for  stock.  They  would  go  back  there 
as  soon  as  they  could  sell  their  farm  of  four  hundred  acres,  mostly 
unimproved.  They  offered  it  at  six  dollars  an  acre — cheaper  than 
any  other  land  thereabouts.  This  year  the  corn  crop  was  good ; 
but  three  years  before  the  drowth  had  destroyed  it,  not  leaving 
enough  for  bread.  The  neighborhood  was  not  much  for  learning, 
though  just  down  the  crick  school  tuck  up  (began)  last  week, 
and  would  continue  two  months. 

In  a  fertile,  flower-covered  prairie  ten  miles  wide,  an  oasis 
among  the  hills,  I  reached  Newtonia,  a  neat  village  with  tasteful 
buildings,  including  the  '  siminary  '  of  the  Cassville  trader.  Five 
miles  further  I  found  Granby,  in  the  largest  and  richest  lead 
region  of  the  United  States. 

All  mining  districts  have  a  mysterious  family  resemblance ;  and 
this  instantly  reminded  me  of  the  Kocky  Mountain  gold  diggings, 
though  it  was  difficult  to  tell  what  features  they  had  in  common. 
Here  on  a  rough  woody  tract  of  six  hundred  and  forty  acres,  three 
thousand  people  were  living — two-thirds  of  them  working  under 
ground.  The  rude  village  was  dotted  with  log  buildings,  and  like 
a  prairie-dog  town,  with  mounds  of  red  loam  gravel  and  stone 
thrown  up  from  hundreds  of  shafts.  From  a  valley  near  by  rose 
the  low  heavy  chimneys  of  smelting  furnaces. 

The  hotel  landlord  told  me  he  was  born  in  old  Yirginny; 
came  to  St.  Louis  when  that  city  had  but  three  brick  houses ;  had 
since  roved  among  lead  mines  of  Iowa,  Wisconsin,  and  Illinois, 


1859.] 


THE    GREAT    NEOSHO    LEAD    REGION. 


211 


gold  diggings  of  California,  pine  forests  of  Oregon  and  Wash 
ington,  and  Indians  of  the  Kocky  Mountains,  by  whom  his  brother 


GRANBY   (MISSOURI)   LEAD-MINERS,    ABOVE   GROUND. 

was  murdered.  He  had  'seed  a  heap  of  country  and  of  human 
nature.' 

Granby  had  at  least  one  characteristic  feature  of  mineral  regions : 
it  was  prolific  of  drinking  saloons,  and  two  deadly  affrays  occurred 
during  the  night. 

A  ruining  firm  to  whom  I  bore  Tetters,  honored  the  draft  upon 
their  hospitality  by  ensconcing  me  in  their  neat  cottage,  in  a 
picturesque  valley  a  mile  from  the  hamlet,  where  books  news 
papers  and  music  afforded  pleasant  contrast  to  the  dreariness  and 
noise  of  Granby.  Their  furnaces  had  cost  forty  thousand  dollars 
before  they  were  ready  to  smelt  the  first  pound  of  ore ;  but  were 
now  proving  remunerative. 

The  lead  is  found  from  ten  to  seventy-five  feet  below  the  sur 
face.  From  most  shafts  the  ore  is  raised  in  buckets  by  the 
common  windlass  and  crank ;  but  at  a  few,  horse-power  is  used. 

Arrayed  in  a  miner's  suit  of  corduroys  which  age  had  with 
ered  and  custom  staled,  I  stepped  into  the  descending  bucket,  and 


212 


SUBTERRANEAN    MINING    SCENES. 


[1859. 


clung  to  the  rope  above.     The  owner  of  the  mine  shared  the  con 
veyance  with  me,  using  one  hand  and  one   foot   to  ward  off  the 

rough  walls.  At  the  depth  of 
seventy  feet  we  reached  the  hot- 
torn  of  the  shaft,  which  was 
blasted  through  lime  and  flint 
rocks. 

Then  my  conductor  bearing 
a  tallow  candle,  guided  me 
through  the  labyrinth  of  pas 
sages,  at  times  not  more  than 
two  feet  high,  until  we  reached 
the  miners.  Some  were  quar< 
rying  out  the  metal ;  •  others* 
blasting  it  from  '  pockets '  in  the 
rock.  In  one  place  they  were 
lying  flat  upon  their  backs, 
digging  it  with  picks  from  the 
roof  of  a  passage  a  foot  high ; 
in  another  they  were  perched 
up  in  a  gallery,  breaking  off 
the  blocks  and  rolling  them 
down.  Then  the  ore  was  car 
ried  by  cars  upon  a  wooden 
railway  to  the  bottom  of,  the 
shafts,  whence  it  was  drawn  up  into  daylight,  and  hauled  to  the 
furnaces. 

A  few  feet  above  the  floor  was  a  stratum  of  flint,  which 
made  a  secure  roof.  Where  the  excavation  did  not  extend  up  to 
it  props  were  set  to  keep  the  earth  from  falling  in.  The  ore  is 
found  in  seams  from  six  inches  to  a  foot  thick.  Sometimes  there 
are  huge  masses  nearly  pure ;  again  it  is  mingled  with  flint  rock ; 
and  again  the  vein  seems  to  run  out,  but  re-appears  in  unexpected 
directions.  One  pure  block  weighing  two  thousand  pounds  was 
taken  out.  The  ore  averages  eighty  per  cent,  of  lead. 

Here  as  everywhere  mining  was  a  lottery.  Workmen  some 
times  obtained  no  reward  for  many  days,  and  again  cleared  3 
hundred  and  fifty  dollars  per  week.  Promising  claims  proved 


DOWN   THE   SHAFT. 


1859.] 


MODE    OF    REDUCING    LEAD    ORE. 


213 


utterly  worthless,  and  others  which  were  believed  exhausted  after 
ward  yielded  richly.     The  dark  unwholesome  mines  were  half 


LEAD   MINERS   UNDER   GROUND. 

full  of  water  and  often  dangerous  from  foul  air.  Yet  laborers 
were  glad  to  work  in  them  at  one  dollar  and  twenty -five  cents  per 
day,  boarding  themselves. 

My  conductor,  a  miner  from  childhood,  had  witnessed  many 
fatal  accidents,  and  declared  it  '  a  slave's  life ;'  but  was  unable  to 
content  himself  in  any  other  pursuit. 

The  ore  is  reduced  in  ( Scotch  ovens '  by  a  heat  much  less  than 
that  required  in  smelting  iron.  It  is  broken  into  fragments  no 
larger  than  walnuts,  then  mingled  with  lime,  and  melted  upon  a 
fire  of  charcoal  and  dry  wood.  In  a  stream  bright  and  shining  as 
silver,  it  falls  into  the  basins.  Thence  it  is  ladled  into  molds 
where  it  cools  into  marketable  'pigs'  of  eighty  pounds.  This 
process  extracts  sixty-six  per  cent,  of  the  lead.  The  refuse  matter 
is  then  subjected  to  much  greater  heat  by  which  ten  per  cent,  more 
is  obtained,  The  smelting  is  very  trying  to  health.  Smelters 


214          VILLAGES    IN    SOUTHWESTERN    MISSOURI.    [1859, 

received  ten  dollars  per  week,  laboring  five  hours  a  day.  The 
annual  product  of  the  region  is  now  (1867)  two  and  a  half  mil* 
lions  of  pounds,  and  the  deposits  in  that  section  are  believed  to  un 
derlie  an  immense  tract.  Lead  mines  are  less  liable  to  'run  out' 
ihan  silver  or  gold ;  some  in  the  Hartz  mountains  of  Germany 
have  yielded  steadily  and  richly  for  five  hundred  years. 

Eeturning  to  Cassville  I  journeyed  on  by  the  mail  coaches, 
which  over  mountainous  roads  accomplished  more  than  a  hundred 
miles  every  twenty -four  hours.  Great  pride  was  felt  in  this  '  Over 
land  '  line,  and  an  old  local  mail  stage  still  lumbering  over  the  same 
track  was  derisively  known  as  *  the  Underland.' 

Our  first  point  was  Keetsville — a  dozen  shanties  which  looked 
like  a  funeral  procession  in  honor  of  Keets,  whoever  he  may  have 
been.  The  neighbors  called  the  place  '  Chicken-Thief.'  Another 
hamlet  a  few  miles  to  the  southward  was  known  as  '  Scarce-o'- 
GreaseP  Near  most  of  the  farm  dwellings  were  spring-houses 
where  the  matrons  kept  their  milk  and  butter.  Cellars  were  little 
known  through  Missouri  and  Arkansas  because  reputed  damp  and 
unhealthy — justly  in  a  few  sections,  but  unjustly  in  most. 

After  crossing  the  State  line  we  were  jolted  over  the  rough 
Boston  Mountains,  and  obtained  a  moonlight  view  of  Fayetteville, 
a  pleasant  county  town  with  several  churches,  the  United  States 
land-office  for  northeastern  Arkansas,  and  pleasant  dwellings.  A 
rough  village  beyond  is  named  '  Hog-Eye.'  If  not  euphonious  the 
nomenclature  hereabout  is  at  least  original.  The  generous  log- 
house  where  the  passengers  breakfasted  was  kept  by  a  widow, 
whose  wordly  condition  a  local  clergyman  on  board  thus  de 
scribed  :  '  She's  got  lots  of  niggers  and  a  heap  of  truck,'  (property.) 

All  day  we  were  among  mountains  with  farm-houses  few  and  far 
between  ;  and  at  evening  we  looked  down  upon  a  pleasant  picture. 
At  our  feet  the  village  of  Van  Buren  nestled  among  shade  trees ; 
immediately  beyond,  the  shining  waters  of  the  Arkansas  river 
wound  through  a  rich  green  valley ;;  still  further,  the  deep  many- 
hued  foliage  of  the  Indian  Territory  dotted  with  blue  mountain 
peaks  melted  into  the  deeper  blue  of  the  sky. 

Crossing  the  stream  by  a  ferry  of  two-pole  power,  and  riding 
five  miles  along  its  deeply -shaded  valley,  we  reached  Fort  Smith, 
in  western  Arkansas,  on  the  border  of  the  Indian  Territory. 


1859.]  LIFE    AT    FORT    SMITH,    ARKANSAS.  215 


CHAPTER    XVIII. 

FORT  SMITH  is  an  abandoned  military  post,  nominally  head  of 
navigation  on  the  Arkansas,  (Indian :  smoky,  bow-shaped  river,) 
though  steamers  ascend  to  it  only  half  the  year.  At  high  water 
they  run  one  hundred  and  sixty  miles  above  to  Fort  Gibson. 

The  pleasant  town  now  contained  three  thousand  people.  Its 
chief  trade  was  with  the  neighboring  Cherokees  and  Choctaws. 
By  law,  debts  contracted  by  the  Indians  out  of  their  own  Territory 
could  not  be  collected ;  but  the  Fort  Smith  merchants  trusted  them 
freely  and  were  faithfully  paid.  / 

Every  day  scores  of  Aborigines  added  picturesqueness  to  the 
streets.  The  men  wore  gay,  fringed  frocks  instead  of  coats,  and 
red  kerchiefs  or  turbans  for  hats;  but  otherwise  dressed  like 
whites.  The  pettid^ats  and  frocks  of  the  women  displayed  as 
many  colors  of  the  rainbow  as  their  purses  would  permit. 

Though  more  civilized  than  any  other  tribes  the  males  scorned 
labor.  Often  one  trudged  empty-handed  up  from  the  ferry,  while 
behind  toiled  his  squaw  with  heavy  keg  or  other  burden  upon 
her  shoulders,  and  one  of  their  negro  slaves  also  unincumbered 
brought  up  the  rear.  He  came  as  interpreter ;  the  negroes  all 
spoke  English  while  many  of  their  Indian  masters  did  not. 

According  to  my  voluble 'landlord  there  were  many  slaves 
about  Fort  Smith.  In  winter  especially,  field  hands  had  a  far 
easier  time  than  their  masters.  They  were  well  supplied  with 
spending  money  and  went  to  a  frolic  almost  every  night : 

'  I  overseed  for  three  years  on  a  Louisiana  cotton  plantation. 
There  the  niggers  have  to  work  right  on  through  the  winter,  for 
that's  the  picking  season.  They  begin  at  daylight  and  keep  at  it 
till  dark ;  an  overseer  follows  them  with  a  big  whip,  and  you'd 


216 


COTTON    PICKING    IN    LOUISIANA. 


[1859. 


think  at  first  that  they  had  a  powerful  hard  time.  Bat  no  matter 
how  tight  they  are  worked,  just  let  them  get  together  at  night  with 
a  fiddle,  and  Lord,  how  they  will  frolic !  Keep  it  up  till  morning 
too,  dancing  and  singing.  That's  the  place  for  niggers ;  put  them 
in  the  South  and  they  are  just  happy. 

*  The  man  I  overseed  for  was  a  mighty  fine  master — kind,  but 
right  strict.      He  kept  them  well  clothed,  for  half  of  them  are  too 
careless  to  look  out  for  the  future.     Growing  cotton  is  the  most 
profitable  business  in  the  world ;  the  planters  don't  raise  any  thing 
else  except  a  few  sweet   potatoes,  but  buy  all  their  provisions. 
Picking  cotton  is   the  great  thing.      A  woman  will  pick  faster 
than  a  man,  but  a  child  twelve  years  old  will  frequently  beat  them 
both.     It  can't  be  learned — it's  a  kind  of  sleight.     Those  planters 
think  nothing  of  paying  twenty -five  hundred  dollars  for  a  good 
picker.' 

*  Are  there  many  slaves  among  the  Indians,  across  the  river?' 
'Yes  sir.       John  Koss    gov 
ernor  of  the  Cherokees  has  over 

a  hundred ;  and  there's  a  right 
smart  sprinkling  through  the 
whole  nation.' 

'  How  are  they  treated?  ' 

'Badly.  The  Cherokees  and 
Choctaws  don't  govern  them ;  in 
fact,  the  niggers  are  masters  and 
do  about  as  they  please.' 

The  negroes  of  Fort  Smith  had 
Methodist  and  Baptist  churches. 
Like  the  temples  of  the  whites, 
these  places  of  worship  had  no 
bells ;  and  the  Sunday  morning 
congregations  were  called  to 
gether  by  the  tooting  of  a  dozen 

horns—a  ludicrous  form  of  the  THE  CHURCH.GOING  BELL. 

church-going  bell. 

Many  negroes  had  bought  their  freedom,  and  some  had  acquired 
considerable  property.  Several  laundresses  and  nurses  first  re 
deemed  themselves,  and  then  their  husbands  and  children.  But 


1859.]  THE    TALE    OF    AN    INKSTAND.  217 

the  Arkansas  legislature  had  passed  a  stringent  law  requiring 
every  free  negro  remaining  in  the  State  after  January  I860,  to  be 
sold  as  a  slave,  and  have  his  property  confiscated  to  the  county. 
He  was  graciously  permitted  to  choose  a  master,  who  after  paying 
his  appraised  value  would  own  him  absolutely.  In  western 
Arkansas  schools  are  very  rare,  and  many  children  grow  up 
incredibly  ignorant.  At  the  time  of  my  visit  several  of  the  State 
legislators  were  unable  to  write  their  own  names. 

Outside  of  the  few  large  towns,  the  epicurean  tourist  endures 
many  tribulations.  In  rich  stock-growing  regions  he  finds  sweet 
milk  for  his  tea  and  coffee  a  rarity,  and  for  drinking  a  myth. 
Butter  seldom  visits  his  table,  but  sometimes  confronts  him  laden 
with  odors  never  wafted  from  Araby  the  Blest.  Of  strong  coffee, 
tsour  milk  as  a  beverage,  molasses,  hot  heavy  biscuit  with  sale- 
ratus  visible  to  the  naked  eye,  and  fat  pork  floating  in  gravy,  he 
will  find  abundance.  Pastry  may  haunt  his  dreamy  but  seldom 
his  repasts.  Even  the  inevitable  corn-bread  though  of  richest 
meal,  comes  in  such  a  questionable  shape  as  to  have  no  tempta 
tion  for  his  palate.  One  waggish  old  settler  told  me  this  story : 

*  I  have  been  living  down  here  for  twenty  years.  The  desk  in 
my  office  is  at  the  head  of  a  long  flight  of  stairs ;  and  in  the  haste 
of  business  my  inkstand  is  often  knocked  off  and  rolled  down. 
For  a  long  time  I  could  get  no  material  that  would  stand  this 
usage.  Glass  was  out  of  the  question.  Stone  broke  like  crockery. 
The  hardest  wood  soon  gave  way.  Finally  a  lucky  thought 
struck  me.  I  sent  up  to  one  of  my  neighbours — the  widow  B. — 
for  a  piece  of  her  corn-bread.  After  ruining  several  fine  tools  I 
succeeded  in  hollowing  it  out  into  an  inkstand.  That  was  ten 
years  ago ;  and,  stranger,  I've  used  that  inkstand  ever  since  and  I 
reckon  it's  good  for  two  generations  longer !' 

Banks  were  unknown,  and  gold  and  silver  the  only  currency. 
The  State  contained  just  forty  miles  of  railroad — from  Memphis 
toward  Little  Kock.  The  speed  of  regular  passenger  trains  by 
the  time-table  was  seven  miles  an  hour. 

A  pioneer  who  settled  in  Fort  Smith  when  there  were  only  five 
houses,  and  before  the  military  post  was  established,  told  me  stir 
ring  tales  of  the  early  days.  The  town  was  a  rendezvous  for  ad 
venturers  and  desperadoes.  By  crossing  the  Arkansas  on  the 


218  EXPERIENCES   IN    A    SICK    CHAMBER.  [1859. 

north  side,  or  the  Oporto  on  the  west,  criminals  reached  the  Indian 
country  beyond  the  reach  of  civil  process.  Deadly  affrays  were 
common ;  and  the  most  trivial  quarrels  settled  by  pistol  and  bowie 
knife. 

During  my  stay  a  lad  of  fourteen  became  angry  with  a  gentle* 
man  who  taught  a  girls'  singing  school ;  and  while  the  teacher 
was  surrounded  by  pupils  twice  snapped  a  pistol  at  him.  The 
caps  failing  he  flung  a  bowlder  which  knocked  the  teacher  down 
senseless  and  bleeding,  among  his  terrified  little  singers.  The 
young  would-be  murderer  was  held  to  bail.  Two  planters 
quarreled  about  a  real  estate  trade,  and  the  lie  was  passed.  Two 
days  later  one  lay  in  the  woods  several  hours,  and  while  his  enemy 
was  passing  killed  him  with  a  shot  gun.  He  was  held  to  bail. 

In  a  drinking  saloon  a  youth  of  eighteen  wantonly  murdered  a 
Cherokee  Indian.  The  city  council  offered  two  hundred  dollars 
for  his  capture,  and  when  taken  he  also  was  held  to  bail.  For 
years  no  one  had  been  punished  for  homicide.  The  carrying  of 
concealed  weapons  was  common  ;  and  a  citizen  assured  me  that  he 
had  seen  a  clergyman  in  the  pulpit  on  Sunday  with  the  handle  of 
a  bowie  knife  protruding  from  his  pocket. 

My  chief  personal  experience  at  Fort  Smith  came  in  the  form  of 
a  typhoid  fever,  prostrating  me  for  weeks.  In  that  climate  the 
disease  often  clings  to  a  patient  for  five  months.  Producing  a  dull 
stupor  with  little  perceptible  pain,  it  is  accompanied  by  malig 
nant  inflammation  of  the  bowels.  But  nature  provides  a  remedy. 
The  green  leaves  of  the  bene  plant,  maturing  at  just  the  right 
season,  after  soaking  in  cold  water,  produce  an  agreeable  glutinous 
syrup  which  rapidly  replaces  the  lining  of  the  intestines  carried 
away  by  the  dangerous  disease.  This  tropical  plant,  grows  in 
profusion,  and  is  said  to  be  identical  with  the  Sesamum  Orientate. 
Who  knows  but  that  it  was  the  mysterious  '  open  sesame  '  of  the 
Arabian  robbers  ? 

I  was  among  strangers  and  they  ministered  unto  me.  Good 
fortune  threw  me  under  the  roof  of  a  Maine  family  who  nursed 
me  with  patient  tenderness.  After  weary  days,  I  escaped  from 
the  sick  chamber  to  breathe  again  the  blessed  open  air.  The 
stifling  cloud  upon  my  brain  passed  away,  and  left  me  like  one 
just  awakened  from  a  heavy  slumber.  In  that  humid  climate  I 


1859.]  ENTERING    THE    INDIAN    TERRITORY.  219 

convalesced  but  slowly,  and  longed  for  the  inspiring  air  of  the 
mountains.  At  last  in  open  rebellion  to  my  physician  I  parted 
from  the  new  friends  to  whom  I  owed  my  life,  rolling  away  in  the 
overland  stage  which  by  a  shaky  ferry  crossed  the  Oporto  into 
the  Indian  Territory. 

On  the  rich  bottom-lands,  oak,  cottonwood,  sycamore  and  pecan 
were  festooned  by  vines  burdened  with  delicious  grapes,  and  in 
closed  by  dense  canebrakes.  The  small  canes  are  shipped  North 
for  pipe  stems,  the  larger  ones  for  fishing  rods.  Three  soft  blue 
mountains  melted  into  the  southern  horizon. 

Fourteen  miles  out,  I  left  the  coach  at  the  residence  of  Governor 
Walker,  executive  of  the  Choctaw  nation.  He  was  educated  in 
Kentucky,  intelligent  and  agreeable ;  nearly  as  white  as  myself, 
and  with  no  betrayal  of  Indian  origin  in  speech  or  features.  His 
wife,  a  very  dusky  half-breed,  did  the  honors  of  his  table  grace 
fully.  His  farm  of  one  hundred  acres  was  all  inclosed  and  under 
high  cultivation.  His  log  house,  long  low  and  hospitable  with 
broad  portico  in  front,  was  surrounded  by  stately  oaks  and  grace 
ful  locusts.  Several  out-buildings  served  for  kitchen,  executive 
office  and  negro  quarters.  Little  darkeys  were  ubiquitous,  deco 
rating  every  niche  and  perch  with  nimble  cupids  in  bronze;  perform 
ing  gum-elastic  feats  unequaled ;  visible  suddenly  from  behind 
corners,  over  fences,  through  windows,  and  under  one's  feet; 
dropping  down  from  every  point  of  the  compass  as  if  scattered 
by  some  genie  from  his  overflowing  pockets ;  gathering  them 
selves  together  with  whoop  and  somersault ;  displaying  rows  of 
ivory,  and  wooly  curls ;  then  miraculously  vanishing  again. 

The  Indian  Territory  contains  sixty  or  seventy  thousand  in 
habitants  :  Cherokees,  Choctaws,  Creeks,  and  Chickasaws.  Each 
tribe  resides  on  a  separate  tract,  and  has  courts,  legislatures, 
schools,  and  universities. 

Their  physicians  are  great  botanists,  knowing  the  virtues  of 
every  green  thing  from  the  cedar  of  Lebanon  to  the  hyssop  upon  the 
wall.  They  use  a  large  horn  for  cupping,  exhausting  the  air  from 
it  with  the  mouth  through  a  little  aperture,  and  piercing  the  spot 
with  a. -sharp,  vneat  lanee,  of  ingeniously-ground  glass.  They  are 
firm  believers  in  the  counter-irritant  principle,  and  for  every 
internal  inflammation  press  a  burning  brand  against  the  body. 


220 


AMONG  THE   CHEKOKEES  AND   CHOCTAWS. 


[1859. 


The  Cherokees  lead  in  civilization.  They  are  largely  tinctured 
with  white  blood.  In  their  most  populous  sections  one  may  travel 
all  day  without  seeing  a  person  of  unmixed  Indian  extraction. 

Slavery  among  them  was  farcical  rather  than  tragical.  The 
negroes,  far  more  intelligent  than  their  masters,  did  much 

as  they  pleased,  owning 
money,  cattle  and 
ponies ;  and  as  they 
made  all  purchases  for 
the  family,  often  feath 
ering  their  own  nests. 

John  Eoss,  head 
chief  of  the  Cherokees, 
was  a  very  wealthy 
land  and  slave  owner. 
He  was  nearly  white, 
and  had  married  a  lady 
from  Philadelphia, 

I  was  interested  in  a 
volume  of  Choctaw 
laws,  a  curious  grafting 
of  the  forms  of  civiliza 
tion  upon  a  stock  of 
barbarism.  Each  sta- 


A   COUNTER-IRRITANT. 


tute  began : 


'Be  it  enacted  by  the  Warriors  and  chiefs  in  National  Council  asssembled.' 

One  was  authenticated  by  the  signatures  of  'Black  Fox,  Prin 
cipal  Chief;  Path  Killer,  Secretary.'  Another  was  signed  '  Turtle- 
at- Home,  Speaker  of  Council ;'  and  a  third  '  Ennautanaueh, 
Speaker.' 

One  legislator  bore  the  name  of  '  Big  Battling  Gourd  ' — appro 
priate  for  many  a  white  Solon.  Another  was  called  '  The  Dark  ;' 
I  fancy  he  was  full-blooded.  One  act  was  '  for  the  relief  of  Betsey 
Broom,'  doubtless  a  good  housewife — while  she  was  new.  Among 
other  names  in  the  volume  were :  Going  Snake,  The  Hair,  Sleep 
ing  Rabbit,  Spirit,  The  Bark,  Deer-in- Water,  Bridge  Maker,  Wo 
man  Killer  (unquestionably  a  dandy,)  Walking  Stick,  Old 


1859.]       CURIOUS    HEREDITARY    COMPLEXIONS.  221 

Feather,  the  Turkey,  Sour  John,  The  Tough,  Flying  Buffalo, 
Spring  Frog,  Big  Head,  John  Jolly,  and  Soft-Shell  Turtle. 

The  Creeks  are  less  advanced  in  civilization.  In  summer  after 
working  part  of  a  day  they  often  seek  some  cool  shallow  spot  in 
the  river,  and  He  in  the  water  for  hours.  Thus  old  travelers  re 
late  that  dwellers  on  the  Isle  of  Ormus  were  wont  to  sleep  in 
wooden  cisterns  immersed  in  water  up  to  their  heads. 

They  are  famous  pedestrians,  often  walking  sixty  or  seventy 
miles  a  day.  With  a  little  sack  of  dried  meat  suspended  from  his 
neck,  and  his  pockets  filled  with  cakes  of  pulverized  potatoes  and 
beans,  carefully  wrapped  in  husks,  the  Creek  starts  on  a  tour  of 
two  or  three  hundred  miles,  and  leaves  the  hardiest  horse  behind. 

The  Choctaws  used  to  flatten  their  foreheads  artificially.  From 
the  extreme  of  barbarism  they  have  advanced  steadily  in 
civilization  since  1831,  when  they  removed  from  Alabama  to  this 
region.  They  are  honest  faithful  and  peaceable,  owning  all  lands 
in  common,  but  permitting  any  one  of  their  tribe  to  remain  un 
disturbed  on  the  tract  which  he  cultivates.  Most  are  of  unmixed 
Indian  blood,  though  whites  who  have  married  Choctaw  wives  and 
been  adopted  into  the  tribe,  enjoy  all  the  privileges  of  citizenship 
save  eligibility  to  the  three  highest  offices.  Where  the  father  is  of 
pure  white  blood  and  the  mother  an  Indian  or  half-breed,  or  vice 
versa,  five  of  the  children  may  be  entirely4  white,  with  Saxon  fea 
tures,  and  a  sixth  will  have  unmixed  Indian  lineaments,  with  a 
skin  dusky  as  the  darkest  Comanche  or  Pueblo. 

The  Choctaws  produce  much  cotton  in  their  rich  valleys. 
Stock  raising  is  the  most  lucrative  employment.  I  found  oxen 
selling  at  fifty  dollars  per  yoke,  cows  at  ten  dollars  each,  and 
horses  at  twenty  dollars  apiece.  Calves  and  colts  branded  with 
the  owner's  mark  run  at  large,  require  no  feeding  in  winter, 
and  in  two  or  three  years  are  ready  for  the  market.  Every  citi 
zen's  brand  is  registered  in  the  public  records,  so  that  stray  animals 
are  easily  reclaimed.  According  to  Marco  Polo  the  same  system 
existed  among  the  Tartars  in  the  thirteenth  century : 

'  Every  man  who  owns  oxen  or  other  cattle  marks  them  with  his  seal  a»d  then  turns 
them  out  upon  the  plains  or  among  the  mountains ;  and  whoever  finds  one  straying 
brings  it  to  him  whose  mark  is  upon  it.' 


222  NOVEL  BOARDING    SCHOOL   FREAKS.  [1859, 

The  Choctaw  language  though  rude  and  rudimentary  is  often 
poetic.  Fingers  are  '  sons  of  the  hand,'  and  leaves  4  tree-hair.'  A 
river  is  a  'water-road,'  and  the  moon,  'the  night-traveling  sun/ 
Arrows  are  '  cane-bullets,  and  bows  '  wooden  guns.' 

In  sharp  contrast  to  their  white  Arkansas  neighbors  the  Choc, 
taws  appropriated  money  freely  for  the  education  of  their  children. 
At  ten  large  mission  boarding  schools  six  hundred  pupils  were 
studying.  After  graduating  here  promising  boys  were  sent  to 
eastern  colleges  at  the  public  expense.  In  a  girls'  school  super 
intended  by  a  Methodist  clergyman,  the  sixty  pupils  all  slept  in  a 
long  hall.  Sometimes  at  the  dead  of  night  one  would  strike  up  a 
sacred  hymn ;  one  by  one  all  the  little  sleepers  would  wake  and 
join  her,  until  the  building  rang  with  their  voices.  Next  some 
little  copper-hued  girl  in  night-gown  would  mount  a  chair  for  a 
religious  exhortation.  Others  would  follow,  till  the  little  devotees 
with  their  groans,  sobs  and  shrieks,  rivaled  a  camp  meeting. 

At  other  times  a  single  girl  would  wake  and  begin  some  low 
weird  song.  One  after  another  all  would  rouse  and  join  her,  the 
chant  swelling  until  all  these  little  throats  roared  forth  the  old  war 
whoop  of  the  Choctaw  tribe!  The  teachers  could  not  prevent 
these  midnight  entertainments  even  by  whipping.  The  girls 
acquired  language  readily,  were  intelligent  and  in  average  capacity 
equaled  white  children. 

The  constitution  of  the  Choctaws  contained  this  provision : 

'The  tenure  of  all  offices  shall  be  for  some  limited  period  of  time,  if  the  person 
appointed  or  elected  thereto  so  long  behave  well!' 

Elections  were  by  ballot.  The  legislative  debates  were  in  Choc 
taw  but  the  records  in  English.  Neither  atheists  nor  'persons 
"  not  believing  in  future  rewards  and  punishments '  could  hold  office. 
Murderers  were  almost  invariably  caught,  and  publicly  shot  ten 
days  after  conviction.  The  penalty  for  stealing  '  negroes,  horses, 
mules,  or  jackasses '  was  '  one  hundred  lashes  well  laid  on  the  bare 
back'  for  the  first  offense,  and  death  for  the  second.  Kidnappers 
were  branded  with  the  letter  T  (thief)  on  the  forehead,  and  received 
a  hundred  lashes,  also  '  well  laid  on.'  Excessive  cruelty  to  animals 
was  punishable  by  fine  and  thirty-nine  lashes ;  treason,  by  death  ; 


1859.] 


CRINOLINE    AMONG    INDIAN    WOMEN. 


223 


manslaughter  by  one  hundred  lashes ;  grand  larceny  by  one  hun 
dred  lashes,  and  the  second  offense  by  death ;  libel,  by 

1  Such  number  of  lashes  on  the  bare  back,  well  laid  on,  as  the  court  in  its  discretion 
may  adjudge,  having  regard  to  the  nature  and  enormity  of  the  offense.' 

Obviously  this  was  no  place  for  a  roving  journalist ;  and  I  took 
the  coach  going  west.  It  was  filled  with  passengers,  including  a 
loquacious  Californian  who  in 
troduced  himself  as  General 

,    without    stating    upon 

what  bloody  fields  he  won  the 
title.  Our  road  led  among 
wooded  hills  and  park-like 
forests  and  across  rich  prairie 
openings,  alive  with  hundreds 
of  grazing  cattle  often  white 
as  snow.  Men  women  and 
children  of  all  hues  between 
alabaster  and  ebony,  lounged 
upon  the  long  porticoes  or  on 
the  grass  under  the  tall  trees. 
Some  Indian  girls  wore  the 
latest  city  modes  with  enor 
mous  crinolines.  How  abso 
lute  the  sway  of  that  gentle 
empress  whose  silent  com 
mands  from  her  silken  cham 
bers  go  forth  over  sea  and  land,  even  penetrating  the  primeval 
forest  and  ruling  the  dusky  daughters  of  an  unknown  race ! 

Many  farmers  had  superb  corn-fields.  In  early  days  the  untamed 
Choctaws  raised  only  grain  enough  for  their  subsistence.  The  first 
night  after  planting  a  corn  patch,  the  hunter's  wife  walked  around 
it,  trailing  her  night-gown  upon  the  ground,  thus  encircling  it  with 
a  charmed  line  which  neither  voracious  worm  nor  noxious  insect 
could  cross.  The  brave  fancied  that,  Byron-like,  the  destroyers 
of  his  grain  venerated  a  petticoat :  • 


A   CHARMED    LINE. 


'A  garment  of  a  mystical  sublimity, 
No  matter  whether  russet  silk  or  dimity.1 


224  THE    CHICKASAWS    LOSE    THEIR    LAWS.        [1859. 

The  second  day,  we  had  left  the  mountains  behind  and  were 
among  beautiful  prairies.  Boggy  Depot  capital  of  the  Choctaw 
nation  contained  two  trading  houses  and  half  a  dozen  dwellings. 
It  is  near  the  country  of  the  Chickasaws  who  have  a  separate 
government.  A  few  years  ago  their  legislature  abrogated  all 
existing  laws  and  passed  a  fresh  code.  They  sent  the  new  manu 
script  laws  into  Texas  to  be  printed,  without  retaining  a  copy. 
The  messenger  lost  them  while  fording  a  river ;  and  they  were 
never  recovered.  The  courts  were  in  a  muddle  which  would  have 
surprised  Stephen  Blackpool  himself,  until  a  new  legislature  sup 
plied  the  deficiency. 

Approaching  Texas  we  sang  with  the  jolly  German  travelers : 

1  Nut-brown  maids  and  bread  that's  white, 
These  shall  be  our  lot  to-night; 
Maids  of  white  and  bread  of  brown, 
Shall  greet  us  in  to-morrow's  town.' 

The  Indian  Territory,  nine  time  times  larger  than  Massachusetts, 
is  better  watered  and  timbered  than  Kansas  or  Illinois ;  has  a  delight 
ful  climate,  a  soil  unsurpassed  in  the  world,  and  enormous  fields 
of  coal.  Adapted  to  every  product  from  cotton  to  Indian  corn,  it 
is  the  most  beautiful  farming  country  under  our  flag,  and  when 
the  railroad  shall  penetrate  it,  will  leap  into  the  condition  of  a 
populous  and  powerful  State. 

Before  seeing  its  inhabitants  I  was  skeptical  about  the  possi 
bility  of  civilizing  Indians.  But  these  once  cruel  and  barbarous 
tribes  were  now  governing  themselves,  educating  their  children, 
protecting  life  and  property  far  better  than  adjacent  Arkansas 
and  Texas,  and  rapidly  assuming  the  habits  of  enlightened  man. 

At  Preston  we  crossed  the  Bed  river  into  Texas.  Light- 
draught  steamers  have  sometimes  ascended  to  Preston ;  but  the 
river  is  really  navigable  only  to  Shreveport,  Louisiana.  Thirty 
miles  above  Shreveport  begins  the  great l  Eaft' — an  immense  col 
lection  of  trees  and  drift-wood  half  imbedded  in  the  earth  and 
firmly  wedged  together.  It  extends  for  seventy  miles  up  the 
channel,  sometimes  spreading  out  to  a  width  of  thirty  miles,  and 
dividing  the  stream  into  many  branches  which  do  not  all  reunite 
for  a  hundred  miles. 


1859.]  NEWS  OF  BRODERICK'S  DEATH.  225 


CHAPTER    XIX. 


ONE  authority  derives  *  Texas '  from  Teha,  (happy  hunting 
ground)  applied  by  the  Aztecs  who  fled  thither  after  the  subju 
gation  of  their  country  by  Cortez.  According  to  another  tradition 
it  is  an  Indian  word  signifying  *  friend.' 

Before  daylight  on  the  first  morning  we  met  the  California  mail, 
with  six  smoking  horses  on  a  swift  run  through  the  drenching 
rain,  and  the  passengers  lustily  singing : 

'  Down  upon  the  Suwanee  river.' 

Every  day  thereafter  we  encountered  a  stage  from  San  Francisco, 
always  stopping  a  moment  to  exchange  gossip  and  newspapers. 
At  midnight  one  coach-load  sent  a  thrill  of  horror  through  our 
little  company  by  intelligence  that  Broderick  the  favorite  Free  Soil 
senator  from  California  had  fallen  in  a  duel.  Judge  Terry,  Brode- 
rick's  adversary,  was  charged  with  foul  play  in  the  selection  of 
weapons  of  the  very  finest  trigger,  with  which  he  had  practised  for 
months,  while  Broderick  had  never  seen  them  before.  Five  years 
later,  Terry  himself  was  killed  while  serving  as  an  officer  in  the 
rebel  army. 

Our  first  Texan  town  was  Sherman,  capital  of  Grayson  county, 
on  a  high  rolling  site,  with  a  population  of  five  hundred.  Five 
hours  later  we  breakfasted  at  Gainesville,  in  Cook  county,  another 
pleasant  village.  Beyond  stretched  undulating  prairies  with  soil 
as  black  and  rich  as  that  of  Kansas — a  good  stock  region  though 
liable,  to  destructive  drowths,  which  ruin  grass  and  sometimes 
compel  the  farmers  to  fatten  their  cattle  on  wheat.  During  the 
day  we  passed  but  five  or  six  farms;  and  night  overtook  us  on  a 
barren  soil  among  thin  groves  of  low  scrubby  oaks. 


226  FREQUENCY    OF    HOMICIDES    IN    TEXAS.         [1859. 

September  28. — At  one  o'clock,  A.  M.,  found  the  West  Trinity 
river  too  much  swollen  for  fording.  The  little  station  was  full ;  so 
we  slept  refreshingly  upon  corn-husks  in  the  barn,  or  in  the 
western  vernacular,  the  '  stable.'  After  breakfast  we  crossed  the 
stream  on  foot  by  a  slippery  log,  while  drivers  and  conductor 
brought  over  heavy  mail  bags  and  trunks  on  the  same  precarious 
bridge.  On  the  west  bank  another  waiting  coach  was  soon  roll 
ing  us  forward  among  mesquite  groves.  The  long  narrow  leaves 
of  this  shrub  are  indeed  '  tree-hair.'  The  slender  hanging  pods 
contain  beans  which  both  raw  and  cooked  are  palatable  and 
nutritious  to  man.  Horses  also  thrive  and  fatten  upon  them. 
Indians  convert  them,  pods  and  all,  into  bread.  Mexicans  extract 
sugar  and  beer  from  them.  Short  fine  mesquite  grass  also  abounds. 
Like  the  buffalo  grass  it  is  eagerly  devoured  by  stock,  and  does 
not  lose  its  nutriment  in  winter. 

Breakfasted  in  Jackson  county  where  the  Indians  were  so  trouble 
some  that  settlers  dared  not  enter  their  fields  to  cut  their  wheat. 
In  one  direction  the  nearest  white  neighbors  were  a  mile  distant ; 
in  another  five  ;  in  another  eight,  and  to  the  north  (toward  Kansas,) 
two  hundred  and  fifty  miles.  Lumber  for  doors  and  floors  of  the 
log  station  had  been  hauled  from  the  nearest  saw-mill,  a  hundred 
and  fifty  miles. 

All  which  I  learned  from  our  landlord  who  nervously  paced 
his  porch,  ravenously  chewing  tobacco,  and  casting  uneasy  glances 
at  the  navy  revolver  by  his  side.  Three  weeks  before,  he  had 
killed  an  employee  of  the  stage  company  in  a  sudden  quarrel, 
upon  the  very  spot  where  we  now  conversed.  He  was  under 
three  thousand  dollars  bail  to  appear  for  trial ;  but  in  this  lawless 
region  men  were  seldom  convicted  of  homicide,  and  never  pun 
ished.  Within  a  month  there  had  been  three  other  fatal  shooting 
affrays  near  by ;  and  our  driver  enjoined  us : 

*  If  you  want  to  obtain  distinction  in  this  country,  kill  some 
body  ! 

At  dusk  we  passed  old  Fort  Belknap,  the  last  outpost  of  civil 
ization.  Thence  to  the  Eio  Grande  stretches  a  lonely  desert  for 
six  hundred  miles.  Our  horses  were  now  exchanged  for  little 
Mexican  mules.  Four  stout  men  were  required  to  hold  them 
while  the  driver  mounted  to  his  seat.  Once  loosed,  after  kicking, 


1859.] 


THE    QUAINT    MEXICAN    CART. 


227 


plunging  and  rearing,  they  ran  wildly  for  two  miles  upon  the 
road.  They  can  never  be  fully  tamed.  When  first  used,  the 
drivers  lash  the  coach  to  a  tree  before  harnessing  them.  When 
ready  for  starting,  the  ropes  are  cut  and  they  sometimes  run  for 
a  dozen  miles.  But  on  this  smooth  prairie  they  do  not  often  over 
turn  a  coach. 

Fording  the  Brazos,  we  passed  a  wretched  log-cabin  whose 
squatter,  a  frontier  Monte  Christo,  had  a  hundred-acre  corn 
field,  which  here  represented  fabulous  wealth. 

We  were  soon  on  the  plains,  where  Indians  claim  exclusive  do 
main,  and  every  traveler  is  a  moving  arsenal.  We  met  a  train 


A   MEXICAN   CART. 

of  Mexican  carts  loaded  with  corn  for  the  mail  stations.  A  rude, 
primitive  invention  is  this  vehicular  ox-killer,  which  must  have 
come  in  vogue  soon  after  the  flood.  The  enormous  wheels  are 
of  huge  logs,  clumsily  framed  together  and  loosely  revolving  upon 
a  rude  axle.  The  frame,  of  slats  covered  with  hide  or  canvas, 
resembles  a  gigantic  hen-coop.  No  iron  is  used  in  its  construc 
tion;  and  the  lumbering  cart  creaks  and  rattles  and  sways  along 
the  road,  apparently  just  about  tumbling  to  pieces.  It  is  drawn 


228  STOPPED    BY    THE    COLORADO     KIVER.  [1859. 

by  oxen,  with  a  straight  strip  of  wood  across  their  shoulders  and 
strapped  to  their  horns,  serving  for  a  yoke.  Kopes  are  substituted 
for  chains  and  bows.  The  poor  animals  are  driven  with  long 
sharp  poles,  by  dirty  Mexicans,  blanketed  and  bare-headed. 

All  night  our  coach  rolled  noiseless  over  the  soft  road,  while 
the  wind  trembling  through  the  mesquite  leaves  swept  after  us  a 
ceaseless  lullaby. 

September  29. — Daylight  found  us  at  Phantom  Hill,  named 
from  the  white  ghostly,  chimneys  of  a  burned  fort.  Beyond 
were  barren  hills  dotted  with  mesquite  and  cactus,  and  covered 
with  cities  of  prairie-dogs  which  often  live  twenty  miles  from 
water.  Some  conjecture  that  they  dig  subterranean  wells ;  others 
that  they  live  without  drinking.  In  winter  they  remain  torpid, 
closely  shut  in  their  holes,  and  when  they  reappear  it  is  an  un 
failing  indication  that  the  weather  is  about  to  moderate. 

All  day  upon  the  silent  desert,  stopping  only  to  change  mules 
at  lonely  little  stations.  Air  delicious  and  exhilarating.  In  the 
evening  passed  Fort  Chadbourne,  sixteen  hundred  feet  above  sea 
level,' — a  cluster  of  long  low  white  barracks  garrisoned  by  one  com 
pany  of  infantry.  But  the  Comanches  regard  our  soldiers  much 
as  they  would  a  company  of  children  armed  with  pop-guns  and 
penny  whistles. 

After  dark,  finding  the  Colorado  *  impassable,  we  slept  in  the 
coach  waiting  for  its  waters  to  subside.  The  vehicle's  roof  was 
like  a  sieve,  and  cold  pitiless  rain  deluged  us  all  night.  • 

September  30. — Awoke  cold  and  rheumatic ;  but  holding  with 
Sancho  Panza  that  a  fat  sorrow  is  better  than  a  lean,  breakfasted 
heartily  upon  pork  and  mesquite  beans ;  and  dried  our  clothes 
before  the  fire  of  the  adobe  hut-station. 

.  The  Colorado,  usually  an  insignificant  stream  a  hundred  feet 
wide  but  now  a  fierce  torrent,  compelled  us  to  spend  the  day  here 
in  the  favorite  range  of  the  Comanches.  These  fierce  untamed 
savages  roam  over  an  immense  region^  eating  the  raw  flesh  of  the 
buffalo,  drinking  its  warm  blood,  and  plundering  Mexicans  In 
dians  and  whites  with  judicial  impartiality.  Arabs  and  Tartars 

*  A  head  stream  of  the  Arkansas,  often  confounded  with  the  Colorado  of  Utah  and 
California,  and  sometimes  with  the  Minnesota  Colorado  or  Red  river  of  the  North. 


1859.] 


THE    FIERCE,    UNTAMED   COMAXCHES. 


229 


of  the  desert,  they  remove  their  villages  (pitching  their  lodges  in 
regular  streets  and  squares)  hundreds  of  miles  at  the  shortest  no 
tice.  The  men  are  short  and  stout,  with  bright  copper  faces,  and 
long  hair  which  they  ornament  with  glass  beads  and  silver  gew 
gaws. 

On  foot  slow  and  awkward,  'but  on  horseback  graceful,  they 
are  the  most  expert  and  daring  riders  in  the  world.  In  battle 
they  sweep  down  upon  their  enemies  with  terrific  yells,  and  con 
cealing  the  whole  body,  with  the  exception  of  one  foot,  behind 
their  horses,  discharge  bullets  or  arrows  over  and  under  the  ani 
mals'  necks  rapidly  and  accurately.  Each  has  his  favorite  war 
horse  which  he  regards  with  great  affection,  and  only  mounts 
when  going  to  battle.  With  small  arms  they  are  familiar ;  but 
'  gun-carts '  or  cannons,  they  hold  in  superstitious  fear,  from  the 
effects  of  one  fired  among  them 
long  ago  by  a  Government  expe 
dition  which  they  attacked  upon 
the  Missouri.  Even  the  women 
arc  daring  riders  and  hunters, 
lassoing  antelope  and  shooting 
buffalo.  They  wear  the  hair 
short,  tattoo  their  bodies  hideous 
ly,  have  stolid  faces,  and  are  ill- 
shapen  and  bow-legged.  When 
a  Comanche  would  show  special 
fondness  for  an  Indian  or  white 
man  he  folds  him  in  a  pair  of 
dirty  arms  and  rubs  a  very 
greasy  face  against  the  suffering 
victim's. 

These  modern  Spartans  are 
most  expert  and  skillful  thieves. 
An  old  brave  boasted  to  Marcy 
that  his  four  sons  were  the  noblest 
youths  in  the  tribe,  and  the  chief 
comfort  of  his  age,  for  they  could  steal  more  horses  than  any  of 
their  companions ! 

They  are  patient  and  urtiring ;  sometimes  absent  upon  war  ex- 


A   COMANCHE   GREETING. 


230  SIGNAL    CODE    AMONG    THE    SAVAGES.  [1859, 

peditions  ^TO  years,  refusing  to  return  until  they  can  bring  the 
spoils  of  battle.  When  organizing  a  war  party,  the  chief  deco 
rates  a  long  pole  with  eagle  feathers  and  a  flag,  and  then  in  fight 
ing  costume  chants  war  songs  through  his  village.  He  makes 
many  raids  upon  white  settlers,  but  his  favorite  victims  are  Mexi 
cans.  Like  all  barbarians  he  believes  his  tribe  the  most  prosperous 
and  powerful  on  earth ;  and  whenever  our  Government  supplies 
him  with  blankets  sugar  or  money,  attributes  the  gifts  solely  to 
fear  of  Comanche  prowess.  He  is  terrible  in  revenge  ;  the  slight 
est  injury  or  affront  will  have  blood.  An  American  writer  saw 
one  chief  punish  the  infidelity  of  his  wife  by  placing  the  muzzle 
of  his  gun  over  her  crossed  feet  and  firing  a  bullet  through  them 
both. 

After  death  the  warrior  is  buried  on  some  high  hill  in  sitting 
posture,  with  face  to  the  east,  his  choicest  buffalo  robe  about  him 
and  the  rest  of  his  wardrobe  deposited  by  his  side.  His  relatives 
mourn  by  lacerating  themselves  with  knives  or  cropping  their 
hair ;  and  if  he  was  killed  in  disastrous  battle,  by  clipping  the 
tails  and  manes  of  their  horses  and  mules. 

On  vast  deserts  the  Comanches  convey  intelligence  hundreds 
of  miles  in  a  few  hours.  By  day,  green  pine,  fir,  or  hemlock  boughs 
piled  upon  burning  wood  produce  a  heavy  black  smoke  which  is 
seen  far  away  ;  and  at  night  they  telegraph  by  bonfires.  Their 
signals  are  as  well  defined  and  intelligible  as  those  of  civilized 
navies — smokes  and  fires  with  stated  intervals  between,  indicating 
the  approach  of  enemies  or  calling  the  roving  bands  together  for 
any  purpose  whatever. 

They  are  inveterate  smokers,  mingling  dried  sumach  leaves 
with  tobacco ;  and  they  drink  whisky  to  excess.  When  needful 
they  easily  abstain  from  food  for  days  together,  but  afterward  eat 
fresh  meat  in  incredible  quantities. 

Kever  tilling  the  soil,  insensible  alike  to  the  comforts  and  wants 
of  civilization,  daring,  treacherous,  and  bloodthirsty,  they  are  the 
destroying  angels  of  our  frontier,  the  mortal  terror  of  weaker 
Indians  and  of  Mexicans.  According  to  tradition  their  ancestors 
came  from  a  far  country  in  the  West,  where  they  expect  to  join 
them  after  death. 

October  1. — This  morning  the  river  had  so  far  subsided  that  we 


1859.] 


A    PLUCKY    LITTLE    TEXAN    WOMAN. 


231 


crossed,  though  the  strong  current  swept  our  six  little  mules  sev 
eral  yards  down  the  stream,  and  compelled  them  to  swim.  Be 
yond,  ii?  ancient  lake  beds,  our  coach  wheels  crushed  rattlesnakes, 
lying  lazily  in  the  road.  They  seldom  bite  except  in  August, 
when  they  are  said  to  be  blind  and  to  snap  indiscriminately  at 
every  living  thing.  Hogs  do  not  fear  them  but  kill  and  eat 
voraciously.  Their  flesh  is  a  favorite  dish  with  old  plains 
men. 

Dined  at  the  North  Concho.  Our  spirited  little  landlady,  reared 
in  eastern  Texas,  gave  us  a  description  of  an  attack  made  by  a  hun 
dred  and  twenty  Comanches  three  weeks  before.  A  stock-tender, 
her  husband  and  herself  shut  themselves  in  the  house,  and  with 
their  rifles  kept  the  assailants  at  a  respectful  distance.  The 
savages  drove  away  all  their  mules  and  cattle,  and  a  dozen  of 
their  iron-pointed  feather-tipped  arrows  were  still  sticking  in  the 
cottonwood  logs.  That  very  morning  a  party  of  Comanches  had 
pursued  the  station- 
keeper  when  within 
two  miles  of  his  dwell 
ing.  One  of  their  ar 
rows  passed  through 
his  hat,  but  his  fleet 
horse  saved  him.  He 
laughed  heartily  at 
this  morning  amuse 
ment,  but  his  little 
wife  was  only  angry, 
declaring  vehemently 
that  they  would  not 
be  driven  out  of  the 
country  by  worthless 
Red-skins. 

Many  species  of  cac 
tus  beside  our  road. 
One,  the  soap  plant, 
nas  a  large  fibrous 

root  said  to  possess  saponaceous  properties,  and  the  Mexicans  are 
reputed   to  use  it  in  washing  their  persons  and  clothing;    but. 


A   MORNING-   AMUSEMENT. 


232  ON    THE    GREAT    STAKED    PLAIN.  [1859. 

generally  they  cherish  strong  antipathy  to  all  soap.  Most  of 
them  would  be  improved  by  spending  half  an  hour  under  a  pump- 
spout,  with  a  vigorous  man  at  the  handle.  Scores  of  spotted 
antelopes  in  sight.  The  wolves  are  said  to  chase  them  in  a 
circle,  thus  enabling  a  fresh  pursuer  to  take  the  place  of  the 
weary  one  every  time  they  pass  the  starting  point.  Fleetness  falls 
a  victim  to  cunning,  and  the  poor  antelope  soon  furnishes  a  feast 
for  the  hungry  pack. 

At  dark,  with  fresh  strong  team  and  additional  rifles  and 
revolvers  on  board,  we  entered  upon  that  old  terror  of  immigrants, 
the  Great  Staked  Plain.  In  the  cold  dreary  night  this  barren 
table  land  stretched  afar — an  utter  sand- waste  with  a  few  shrubs 
of  cactus  and  grease- wood.  A  few  weeks  before,  travelers  had  nar 
rowly  escaped  death  from  thirst.  At  one  stage-station  during 
four-fifths  of  the  year,  water  for  the  mules  was  hauled  in  casks 
twenty-two  miles.  But  now  the  ground  Was  saturated.  Again 
and  again  during  the  dark  night  our  conductor  left  the  stage  with 
his  lantern,  searching  for  the  track,  which  neither  driver  nor  mules 
could  see  many  yards  ahead ;  there  was  danger  of  wandering  off 
into  the  wilderness. 

October  2. — Daylight  found  us  on  a  shoreless  ocean  of  desolation. 
Excepting  the  faint  mail  road, 

'  Nor  dint  of  hoof  nor  print  of  foot 

Lay  in  the  wild  and  arid  soil; 
No  sign  of  travel,  none  of  toil — 
The  very  air  was  mute.' 

The  ancient  Mexicans  marked  a  route  with  stakes  over  this  vast 
desert,  and  hence  its  name.  It  is  four  hundred  miles  long  by  two 
hundred  in  width,  and  two  thousand  eight  hundred  feet  above  sea 
level.  Among  its  gypsum  deposits  are  large  sheets  of  '  the  pure 
transparent  selenite  which '  according  to  Hitchcock  '  the  ancients 
used  for  windows.  It  has  the  curious  property  of  enabling  a  per 
son  within  the  house  to  see  all  that  passes  abroad,  while  those 
without  cannot  see  what  is  passing  within.  Nero  employed  it  in 
his  palace.' 

We  journeyed  for  eighty  miles  across  a  corner  of  the  desert, 
passing  two  or  three  mail  stations,  the  most  desolate  and  lonely  of 


1859.]  A    GIKL    STOLEN    BY    COMANCHES.  233 

all  human  habitations.  Then  through  a  winding  canyon  we 
descended  into  the  broad  valley  of  Pecos  river  and  halted  at  a 
station  of  adobe.  Thence  I  traveled  eight  hundred  miles  before  I 
again  saw  a  wooden  building. 

Crossing  the  swollen  river  in  a  skiff  we  took  another  waiting 
coach  and  soon  struck  the  old  trail  of  the  Comanches  to  the  City 
of  Mexico.  Eight  beaten  paths  side  by  side  indicated  the  fre 
quency  of  their  bloody  raids  into  northern  Mexico,  for  cattle 
horses  and  children.  They  once  kidnapped  a  daughter  of  the 
governor-general  of  Chihuahua,  tatooed  her  and  furnished  her  with 
an  Indian  husband.  When  discovered  by  her  father  she  was  the 
mother  of  several  children,  and  refused  to  leave  the  tribe.  Single 
warriors  possess  two  hundred  stolen  Mexican  horses. 

Among  these  barren  sands  we  suddenly  saw  on  the  horizon  a 
lake  of  clear  blue  water  fringed  with  wooded  shores ;  but  while  we 


i 

THE  MIRAGE. 

gazed  in  wonder  it  vanished.  This  wonderful  mirage  was  a  lovely 
miracle;  but  it  sometimes  proves  a  terrible  mockery  to  lonely 
American  emigrants  perishing  from  thirst ;  and  it  bitterly  betrayed 
the  French  army  in  Egypt. 

Beyond  Camp  Stockton — a  military  post  of  three  or  four  edi- 


234  A    FATAL    FONDNESS    FOR    PICTURES.  [1859. 

fices  with  pearly  misty  mountains  in  the  background — we  reached 
the  well-trodden  mail  road  from  San  Antonio  to  El  Paso. 

October  3. — After  an  intensely  cold  night  breakfasted  on  deli 
cious  venison,  at  a  mountain  station  where  last  winter  the  supply 
gave  out,  and  the  inmates  subsisted  for  twelve  days  wholly  upon 
corn,  ground  in  a  coffee-mill. 

Sunrise  overtook  us  in  Limpia  Canyon  whose  rocky  walls,  a 
thousand  feet  high,  have  been  sculptured  by  water  into  fantastic 
figures.  Some  are  isolated,  others  in  bass-relief.  Great  pagan 
idols  show  worshippers  in  flowing  garments  kneeling  before  them. 
Beside  these  stands  a  sentinel  with  hands  in  pockets,  wistfully 
eying  an  enormous  cask,  as  if  waiting  for  his  matutinal  dram. 
Around  the  cask  a  sharp-nosed  wolf  is  cautiously  peeping,  while 
beyond  tapestry  incloses  the  group  in  graceful  folds. 

The  striking,  beautiful  gorge  soon  widens  into  a  secluded  valley, 
where  the  Apaches  often  stole  the  stock  of  the  San  Antonio 
mails.  Once  they  killed  the  driver  and  took  mail  bags  and  all. 
At  their  next  camping  ground  they  opened  one  sack  and  dis 
covered  several  illustrated  papers.  They  had  never  seen  an  en 
graving;  and  a  new  world  was  revealed  to  them.  Lying  upon 
the  ground  with  the  pictures  spread  before  them,  these  over 
grown  children  were  absorbed  in  wonder  and  delight.  But 
suddenly  the  comedy  was  changed  to  tragedy.  A  squad  of 
cavalry  approaching  unperceived  dashed  in  among  them,  killing 
fourteen  and  routing  the  rest.  The  Apaches  believed  the  papers 
had  revealed  their  whereabout ;  and  still  supposing  that  pictures 
can  talk  they  avoid  them  with  superstitious  dread. 


INDIANS  SURPRISED  AND  DEFEATED  IN  LIMPIA  CANYON.  PAGE  234, 


1859.]         PREACHING    EASIER    THAN    PRACTICE.  235 


CHAPTER     XX. 

PASSING  a  little  Mexican  house  with  roof  and  chimney  of  adobe, 
walls  of  upright-  poles  and  gables  of  cotton  cloth,  we  reached  Fort- 
Davis,  four  thousand  two  hundred  feet  above  sea  level,  named  in 
honor  of  Jefferson  Davis  while  he  was  secretary  of  war.  The 
site  is  of  unequaled  beauty :  surrounded  by  tall  conical  mountains 
and  fronting  upon  a  fair  valley.  The  buildings  are  of  dark  stone 
with  straw-thatched  roofs ;  and  noble  trees  shade  the  grounds. 

Twenty  miles  beyond  we  crossed  the  highest  ridge  between  St. 
Louis  and  El  Paso.  The  California  general  was  still  on  board, 
and  an  army  colonel  now  joined  us.  At  the  first  station,  the  little 
stage  mules  were  so  wild  that  they  could  only  be  caught  in  the 
stable  yard  by  lassoing  them.  When  we  started  they  proved 
altogether  unmanageable.  In  the  headlong  race,  while,  the  coach 
was  poised  on  two  wheels,  I  sprang  out.  The  vehicle  barely 
avoided  capsizing;  and  after  a  circuit  of  a  mile,  the  driver  brought 
his  riotous  steeds  around  again  and  stopped  for  me  to  re-enter. 

1  My  friend,'  observed  the  colonel,  '  you  are  fortunate  to  escape 
a  broken  neck.'  '  Whatever  happens,  always  stick  to  the  coach/ 

'And,'  added  the  general,  *  never  jump  out  over  a  wheel !' 

Scarcely  had  these  golden  axioms  been  uttered,  when  the  spirits 
of  our  mules  again  effervesced.  The  coach  was  transformed  into 
a  pitching  schooner,  which  the  bounding  billows  of  prairie  tossed 
and  rolled  and  threatened  to  wreck.  I  kept  in  the  vehicle ;  but 
both  my  military  companions  jumped  headlong  over  a  hind- wheel 
to  the  sure  and  firm-set  earth.  After  that  climax,  equilibrium  was 
restored ;  but  the  colonel  picked  up  with  a  sprained  ancle,  and  the 
general,  with  a  severely  bruised  foot,  both  seemed  in  doubt 
whether  to  laugh  or  fight,  when  their  own  wise  counsel  was 
repeated  to  them. 


236 


THE    COLONEL    RETIRES    DISABLED. 


[1859. 


The  country  was  dreary  enough  to  recall  the  traveler's  expe 
rience  among  the  barren  hills  of  Virginia.  In  a  specially  forbidding 
region,  he  passed  a  tumble-down  log-hut  with  old  hats  stuffed  in 
the  windows.  At  one  aperture  appeared  a  face  surmounted  by  a 
shock  of  hair  and  half-hidden  in  an  ambush  of  wrinkles. 

'I  say,  stranger!'  shouted  its  owner;  'I'm  not  so  poor  as  you 
think.  I  don't  own  all  this  land  about  here !' 

Our  natural  mountain  road  was  equal  to  the  best  turnpike. 
Among  the  many  species  of  cactus,  one  low,  turnip-shaped  plant 
holds  in  its  rough  thorny  skin  a  watery  pulp,  which  quenches  the 
thirst  of  man  and  beast.  Another  common  variety,  the  Spanish 

bayonet,  is  here  ten  feet 
high,  its  upright  stem 
crowned  with  long 
sharp  spurs  like  bayo 
nets,  so  firm  that  it  is 
said  they  will  pierce 
through  the  body  of 
a  man. 

October  4.— At  day 
light  we  reached   the 
Eio  Grande  and  looked 
across  it  upon  Mexican 
Three   dirty  blanketed 
barefoot   men   smoking    cigarettes, 
shivered  over  the  fire  on  the  river 
bank,  where  two   Mexican  women 
cooked  our  breakfast  of  frijoles. 

At  Fort  Quitman,  whose  white 
washed  adobe  buildings  look  like 
marble,  we  left  the  colonel,  so 
lame  that  his  Irish  servant  lifted 

him  from  the  coach  like  a  baby.  The  general  while  asleep  had 
lost  his  hat  overboard,  for  the  second  time  within  forty-eight  hours. 
Unable  to  purchase  a  new  one  he  wrapt  his  head  in  a  fiery  red 
comforter,  like  a  sanguinary  and  turbaned  Turk. 

We  continued  up  the  sandy  valley  of  the  Eio  Grande,  from  five 
to  forty  miles  wide,  and  bounded  on  the  west  by  a  notched  line  of 


THE  SPANISH  BAYONET. 


1859.]         FIRST    LINE    ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT.  237 

mountains.  "We  passed  Mexican  villages,  where  bright-eyed, 
dusky-faced,  half-naked  children  were  playing  about  the  streets, 
and  through  open  doors  women  were  visible  in  very  simple  dress 
or  undress,  reclining  upon  matresses,  gossiping  and  smoking 
cigarettes.  Toward  evening  we  were  among  ranches,  herds  of 
cattle,  and  great  corn-fields.  There  are  no  fences ;  but  all  cattle 
are  watched  by  herders  from  planting-time  until  November. 
Water  is  conveyed  from  the  river  through  ditches  to  every  portion 
of  the  farms.  In  this  sandy  soil  and  rainless  climate,  no  crop 
can  be  raised  without  irrigation. 

Passing  the  pleasant,  shaded  Mexican  hamlet  of  Socorro,  with 
quaint  old  churches  and  low  houses  of  adobe,  and  Ysletta,  a 
Pueblo  Indian  settlement  with  its  tall  white  cathedral,  we 
reached  El  Paso  at  eight  in  the  evening,  having  traveled  ninety 
miles  since  dawn,  and  two  hundred  and  twenty-six  during  the  last 
thirty -four  hours. 

El  Paso,  twelve  hundred  miles  from  St.  Louis  and  from  San 
Francisco,  was  the  half-way  point  on  the  great  Overland  route. 
This  was  the  first  rapid  line  across  the  continent.  John 
Butterfield  and  his  associates  were  paid  six  hundred  thousand 
sand  dollars  a  year  for  carrying  tri- weekly  mails  between  St.  Louis 
and  San  Francisco.  Euling  influences  in  Congress  and  the  White 
House  compelled  them  to  adopt  a  far  southern  route  through  the 
Indian  Territory,  Texas  and  Arizona;  while  a  branch  line  from 
Memphis  also  joined  the  main  stem  at  Fort  Smith,  Arkansas. 
The  coaches  ran  day  and  night,  ordinarily  going  from  St.  Louis 
to  San  Francisco  in  twenty-one  days,  though  the  law  allowed 
twenty-five.  It  was  the  longest  stage  route  in  the  world. 

To  establish  this  line  three  thousand  miles  across  mountains, 
deserts,  dangerous  rivers  and  the  territory  of  hostile  Indians,  was 
a  gigantic  enterprise.  The  stages  ran  by  a  time-table,  and  with  so 
much  regularity  that  during  twelve  months  there  had  not  been  a 
single  failure  to  deliver  the  mail  on  schedule  time.  Every  day 
for  two  winter  months,  near  the  middle  of  the  long  route,  the 
coaches  from  St.  Louis  met  those  from  San  Francisco  within  three 
hundred  yards  of  the  same  spot.  The  through  fare  was  a  hundred 
and  fifty  dollars,  exclusive  of  meals,  which  cost  from  forty  cents 
to  one  dollar.  The  line  continued  in  operation  till  the  war  broke 

16 


238  'OUT  WEST'  ON  ITS  TRAVELS.  [1859. 

out  in  1861,  when  the  Texans  and  Arkansans  seized  most  of  the 
mules  and  coaches.  It  was  then  removed  to  the  central  route. 
The  Wells-Fargo  company,  composed  of  the  same  stockholders, 
now  carry  mails  and  passengers  from  the  western  termini  of  the 
Kansas  and  Nebraska  railways,  via  Denver  Salt  Lake  and 
Nevada,  to  California. 

The  early  settlers  upon  Massachusetts  bay.  after  exploring  the 
country  for  twenty  miles  'out  West,'  reported  the  fact  with  triumph 
ant  surprise,  and  boasted  that  the  soil  was  tillable  for  that  entire 
distance.  Most  adults  remember  when  Buffalo  was  spoken  of  as 
'  out  West.'  How  rapidly  the  application  of  that  familiar  phrase 
has  since  moved  toward  the  setting  sun !  Now,  on  this  remotest 
frontier,  I  heard  a  merchant  speak  of  sending  goods  '  out  West.' 

'And  pray,'  I  asked,  '  where  may  that  be?' 

*  O,'  he  replied  carelessly,   '  about  a  hundred  miles  over  into 
Mexico.'* 

The  Texan  town  of  El  Paso  had  four  hundred  inhabitants, 
chiefly  Mexicans.  Its  business  men  were  Americans,  but  Spanish 
was  the  prevailing  language.  All  the  features  were  Mexican :  low, 
flat,  adobe  buildings,  shading  cottonwoods  under  which  dusky, 
smoking  women  and  swarthy  children  sold  fruit,  vegetables,  and 
bread;  habitual  gambling  universal,  from  the  boy's  game  of 
pitching  quartillas  (three  cent  coins)  to  the  great  saloons  where 
huge  piles  of  silver  dollars  were  staked  at  monte.  In  this  little 
village,  a  hundred  thousand  dollars  often  changed  hands  in  a  single 
night  through  the  potent  agencies  of  monte  and  poker.  There 
were  only  two  or  three  American  ladies;  and  most  of  the  whites 
kept  Mexican  mistresses.  All  goods  were  brought  on  wagons 
from  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  sold  at  an  advance  of  three  or  four 
hundred  per  cent,  on  eastern  prices. 

From  hills  overlooking  the  town,  the  eye  takes  in  a  charming 
picture — a  far-stretching  valley,  enriched  with  orchards,  vineyards 
and  corn-fields,  through  which  the  river  traces  a  shining  pathway. 
Across  it  appear  the  flat  roofs  and  cathedral  towers  of  the  old 
Mexican  El  Paso;  still  further,  dim  misty  mountains  melt  into 
the  blue  sky. 

*  A  native  word,  signifying  the  home  or  seat  of  Mextilli,  the  Aztec  god  of  war. 


1859.]  PEON    LABOR    IN    NEW    MEXICO.  239 

Western  Texas  lias  a  poor  soil  and  is  very  thinly  settled.  El 
Paso  county  is  three  hundred  miles  long,  and  from  eighty  to  two 
hundred  miles  in  width. 

The  vocabulary  of  slang  was  large  and  novel.  When  two 
friends  shook  hands  the  invariable  salutation  was  the  Indian. 
'  How?'  *  Outfit,'  (always  familiar  on  the  verge  of  regions  where 
the  traveler  must  carry  every  thing  he  needs  on  the  journey,) 
might  mean  one's  clothing,  his  watch,  his  horse,  or  even  his 
mistress.  One's  *  ranch  '  was  his  dwelling,  office,  bed-chamber, 
or  trading-house.  To  '  go  under,'  or  *  go  up,'  was  to  die.  To 
'jump  a  man'  was  to  attack  or  kill  him.  A  'greaser'  was  a 
Mexican — originating  in  the  filthy,  greasy  appearance  of  the 
natives. 

Slavery  was  only  nominal  in  western  Texas,  as  negroes  could 
easily  cross  the  Bio  Grande  into  Mexico,  where  the  natives  shel 
tered  them.  But  here,  as  throughout  old  and  New  Mexico,  peon 
labor  was  universal.  'Natives  of  the  lower  classes,  ignorant  and 
thriftless,  were  always  ready  to  contract  a  debt  and  agree  to  work 
it  out,  receiving  from  three  to  ten  dollars  a  month  and  clothing 
themselves.  As  no  one  else  would  supply  him  with  goods  this 
placed  the  peon  at  his  master's  mercy,  and  compelled  him  to  pay 
most  exorbitant  prices.  But  he  seemed  to  like  it;  and  cases 
where  one  liquidated  his  debts  and  became  free  were  very  rare. 
Just  before  my  arrival,  a  peon  by  years  of  labor  had  earned  his 
freedom ;  but  in  less  than  a  week  he  bought  an  eighty-dollar 
silk  dress  for  his  wife,  contracting  a  debt  which  would  make  him 
a  slave  for  life. 

The  American  residents  believed  in  the  inalienable  right  of  the 
white  man  to  bully  the  inferior  race.  At  Messilla  all  public  re 
cords  and  legal  proceedings  were  in  Spanish.  A  Kentuckian  was 
brought  before  the  alcalde  or  magistrate  for  assault  and  battery. 
The  native  judge,  with  shaggy  beard  uncombed  hair  and  dirty 
face,  appeared  on  the  bench  in  a  soiled  calico  shirt  and  buckskin 
sandals.  He  knew  no  English.  Sternly  motioning  the  Kentuck 
ian  to  rise  he  ordered  the  sheriff  to  ask  the  prisoner  whether  he 
spoke  Spanish. 

'  Nary  Spanish.' 

'Then,'  said  the  alcalde,  '  he  must  hire  an  interpreter/ 


240  A    KENTUCKIAN    IN    COUET.  [1859. 

The  delinquent,  shifting  his  tobacco  quid   to  the  other  cheek, 
replied  : 

'Ask  him  whether  this  court  is  sitting  in  Mexico  or  the  United 

States?' 


STREET  SCENES  IN  EL  PASO,   OLD   MEXICO. 

'  Iii  the  United  States !'  responded  the  angry  official. 

1  Then  tell  him  that  I  understand  the  United  States  language, 

and  if  he  don't  I'll  see  him  d d  before  I  hire  an  interpreter  for 

him.'' 

The  enraged  alcalde  fined  the  Kentuckian  twenty-five  dollars  for 
contempt.  The  prisoner  in  return  commended  the  court  to  the 
infernal  regions,  and  drawing  his  revolver  strode  away,  anathema 
tizing  any  country  where  Greasers  presumed  to  administer  justice 
to  white  men ! 

Hundreds  of  many-colored  sheep  and  goats  graze  the  val 
leys  and  hill-sides.  The  shepherd  dogs  which  guard  them  are 
sometimes  left  in  sole  charge  for  hours.  They  keep  the  flocks 
compact,  driving  all  stragglers  back  upon  the  herd,  and  never 
leaving  their  posts. 

Immediately  west  of  the  Texan  El  Paso  runs  the  Rio  Grande, 
dividing  our  possessions  from  old  Mexico.  On  its  west  bank  is 


1859.]     STREET    PICTURES    IN    MEXICAN    TOWNS.  241 

the  Mexican  city,  El  Paso  Del  Norte,  thus  named  by  the  Span 
iards  from  the  pass  through  the  mountains  at  this  point.  Coming 
from  the  south  they  called  it  '  the  North  Pass.'  Long  afterward  our 
own  pioneers  from  the  east  named  a  mountain-crossing  on  the 
Salt  Lake  road  '  the  South  Pass.'  Consequently  the  latter  is  a 
thousand  miles  further  north  thanv  the  former,  to  the  sore  per 
plexity  of  travelers  and  geographers. 

,  The  Mexican  El  Paso  contains  twelve  thousand  people,  and 
extends  up. and  down  the  river  for  miles.  Next  to  St.  Augustine 
Florida,  it  is  the  oldest  European  settlement  on  our  continent. 
As  essentially  un-American  as  India  or  China,  it  is  a  quaint  old 
city  of  gardens  and  corn-fields,  orchards  and  vineyards,  shaded 
by  green  cottonwoods,  with  a  net-work  of  ditches  crossing  the 
streets  spanned  by  rickety  log  bridges..  A  city  of  swarthy,  dimin 
utive,  sinister-faced  men,  and  dusky  women  who  permit  only 
their  lustrous  eyes  to  be  seen  in  public.  Of  narrow,  crowded 
thoroughfares  through  which  Mexican  carts  creak  and  rumble, 
half-naked  boys  and  indolent  men.  bear  water-kegs  suspended  from 
poles  between  them,  women  balance -Ikige  jars  upon  their  heads, 
and  little  donkeys  stagger  under  enormous  loads  of  corn-stalks. 
Of  ancient  adobe  houses  with  woodbn;  doors  and  window  shutters, 
quaintly  carved  but  without  a  pane  of  glass ;  and  of  a  crumbling 
cathedral  erected  before  the  Pilgrims  landed  on  Plymouth  rock. 

The  Mexican  is  pre-eminently  social.  If  an  American  enters 
the  saloon  where  he  is  drinking,  with  endless  bows  he  insists  that 
the  new-comer  shall  taste  from  his  glass.  If  another  Mexican 
enters,  he  even  takes  the  cigar  from  his  mouth  and  (hands  it  to  his 
friend,  who  after  a  few  whiffs  passes  it  to  a  neighbor.  Thus  it- 
goes  around  the  company  before  returning  to  the  owner's  lips. 

His  idea  of  heaven  seems  to  be  a  maze  of  long-robed  priests, 
gorgeous  paintings  and  wax  candles;  a  blessed  asylum  where 
cigarettes-,  wine  and  brandy  never  fail,  where  there  is  no  work, 
muck  gossip,,  and  a  fandango  every  night. 

By  '  the  gift  of  Nature,'  he  is  a  wine  connoisseur,  a  dancer,  and 
a  walking  cigar  manufactory.  While  earnestly  talking,  he  produces 
a  square  bit  of  corn-husk  or  paper  from  one  pocket,  a  box  of  fine- 
cut  tobacco  from  another,  and  rolls  up  and  lights  a  cigar  without 
once  looking  at  it. 


242 


A    NATIVE    MEG    MEKRILIES. 


[1859. 


The  large  and  delicious  El  Paso  grape  grows  abundantly.  FOJ 
a  few  pennies  one  is  allowed  to  enter  any  vineyard  and  eat  his 
fill.  The  wine  though  a  little  heavy  is  rich  and  unctuous.  I  do 
not  covet  my  Mexican  neighbor's  house  nor  his  wife,  his  man 
servant  nor  his  maid-servant,  his  ox  nor  his  ass ;  but  I  confess  to 
twinges  of  envy  that  he  can  enjoy  throughout  the  year  the  glowing 
vintage  of  El  Paso. 

The  first  evening's  duty  was  to  attend  a  fandango.  When  we 
entered,  the  dancing  had  begun.  Several  Texan  whites,  all  armed, 
were  present.  One  while  dancing  dropped  his  enormous  revolver 
and  bowie  knife — a  display  which  excited  no  attention.  There 
were  black  spirits  and  white,  red  spirits  and  gray.  The  faces  of 
dancers  and  spectators  in  the  low  basement,  lighted  by  tallow 
candles,  made  up  a  medley  of  hues  from  dark  Indian  to  fairest 


A   MEXICAN   FANDANGO. 


Saxon.  On  the  platform  at  one  end,  three  musicians  without  coats 
were  hard  at  work.  All  entered  into  the  amusement  with  enthu 
siasm  ;  and  participants  and  lookers  on  of  both  sexes  were  smok 
ing.  When  a  woman  rose  to  dance  she  handed  her  cigarette  to  a 
neighbor  to  smoke  until  she  returned.  A  demented  old  hag 
whose  hideous  face  would  have  made  her  fortune  as  Meg  Merrilies 
or  the  chief  of  Macbeth's  witches,  was  raving  about  the  room 


1859.]   AN  ARISTOCRATIC  CASTILIAN  GATHERING.       243 

wearing  no  clothing  except  a  chemise.  The  women  were  coarse* 
featured  and  homely,  but  their  voices  low  and  pleasing  as  they 
chattered  in  liquid  Spanish.  Many  had  beautiful,  luminous  eyes, 
and  all  a  grace  of  motion  rarely  seen  in  their  English  or  American 
sisters. 

At  ten  o'clock  we  left  the  lively  fandango  for  a  ball  of  '  the  first 
society' — a  few  families  who  claim  that  their  pure  Castilian  blood 
has  never  mingled  with  that  of  the  native  Indians.  They  were 
not  wont  to  associate  with  Americans,  but  to-night  a  few  Texans 
were  invited. 

I  found  this  patrician  baife  in  an  ancient  family  mansion,  built 
around  a  hollow  court  after  the  old  Moorish  mode,  for  protection 
against  attack.  The  servants  recognizing  my  companion  opened 
the  great  barred  gate,  and  conducted  us  through  the  court  to  a 
spacious  well-lighted  saloon.  Its  earth  floor  was  covered  with 
plain  hemp  matting.  There  were  no  chairs,  but  stationary  benches 
against  the  walls. 

The  dancing  had  already  begun,  but  it  was  listless;  and  like 
most  aristocratic  affairs  this  proved  heavy  and  stupid.  Among 
the  thirty  or  forty  guests  I  saw  no  Indian  features.  The  ladies 
were  no  darker  than  our  own  brunettes.  Some  had  faces 
regular  and  almost  classic ;  but  not  one  showed  intelligence  and 
vivacity.  Their  movements  were  languid  and  graceful.  "Wine 
was  frequently  passed,  each  lady  taking  a  dainty  sip  and  then  re 
placing  the  glass  upon  the  waiter  for  twenty  or  thirty  others  to 
drink  from.  Only  a  few  were  smoking. 

The  next  morning  (Sunday)  the  market  on  the  great  plaza  was 
crowded  and  the  stores  open,  for  this  is  the  grand  gala  and  busi 
ness  day  of  the  week.  A  harsh,  cracked  bell  from  the  old 
cathedral  summoned  the  people  to  worship.  The  shaky  tower  of 
the  crumbling  edifice  had  contained  a  bell  brought  from  Spain, 
nearly  as  ancient  as  the  building  itself.  A  few  months  before 
my  visit  an  old  friend,  Edward  E.  Cross,  surreptitiously  pocketed 
the  tongue  and  carried  it  to  *  the  States  '  as  a  curiosity.  The  na 
tives  so  resented  this  sacrilege  that  Cross's  life  would  not  have 
been  safe  for  a  moment  among  them.  He  had  been  an  editor  in 
Cincinnati,  and  a  rover  through  every  State  in  the  Union ;  and 
was  now  publishing  a  newspaper  in  the  wilds  of  Arizona.  After- 


244  SUNDAY    WORSHIP    IN    THE  CATHEDRAL.      [1859, 

ward  he  commanded  a  regiment  of  Mexicans  under  Juarez  until 
our  great  rebellion.  Then  he  became  colonel  of  the  fifth  New 
Hampshire  infantry;  participated  in  almost  every  battle  of  the 
glorious  Army  of  the  Potomac,  and  was  wounded  again  and  again. 
At  last,  in  1864,  he  received  the  fatal  shot  and  yielded  his  life  for 
his  country. 

The  old  cathedral  was  in  the  form  of  a  cross.  The  congrega 
tion  numbered  five  thousand,  more  than  half  women.  The  men 
looked  like  cut-throats,  but  were  the  most  devout  worshippers  I 
ever  saw.  All  the  women  wore  the  rebozo  or  broad  scarf,  cover 
ing  the  entire  face  except  the  luminous,  brilliant  eyes.  The  ser 
vices  were  conducted  by  an  unctuous,  sensuous-looking  priest,  who 
seemed  in  no  haste  to  join  the  church  triumphant. 

There  was  an  irrepressible  conflict  between  the  Mexicans  and 
their  Texan  neighbors.  Peons  would  escape  into  Texas,  and  slaves 
into  Mexico ;  and  both  found  sympathy  and  refuge.  Several  armed 
Texans  had  lately  attempted  to  carry  back  an  alleged  fugitive 
after  the  alcalde  had  tried  the  case  and  declared  the  negro  free. 
There  was  a  good  deal  of  random  shooting  on  both  sides ;  but  tha 
Texans  were  finally  captured  and  heavily  fined. 


1859.]  FROM    EL    PASO    1>O    SANTA    FE 


CHAPTER    XXI. 

LEAVING  the  trans-continental  route  I  turned  northward  from 
El  Paso,  taking  the  weekly  mail  coach  for  Santa  Fe  : — three  hun 
dred  and  fifty  miles ;  forty  dollars  exclusive  of  meals. 

Our  old-fashioned  stage  was  drawn  by  six  mules,  with  a  seventh 
led  beside  them  for  emergencies,  and  an  eighth  ridden  by  a  young 
Mexican  armed  with  a  'black-snake'  whip,  whose  pistol-like 
crack  and  keen  stroke  terrified  if  it  did  not  hasten  the  lazy  little 
animals. 

Our  road  was  up  the  sandy  valley  of  the  Eio  Grande,  barren  of 
vegetation  but  prolific  of  lizards  and  frequented  by  the  deadly 
tarantula,  resembling  an  enormous  black  spider. 

Soon  entering  New  Mexico,  we  saw  no  habitation  for  twenty 
miles  until  we  reached  our  adobe  dinner  station.  A  little  Mexi 
can  village  hard  by  had  just  been  ravaged  by  the  Apaches,  who 
entered  in  broad  daylight,  stealing  every  horse  and  mule  they 
could  find,  and  unresisted  by  the  terrified  natives. 

At  Fort  Fill  more — a  collection  of  pleasant  Government  bar 
racks — ,a  slave  woman  black  as  Erebus  took  passage,  journeying 
alone  from  Virginia  to  a  new  owner  in  Santa  Fe. 

Passing  frequent  villages,  at  midnight  we  entered  upon  the 
Jornanda  del  Muerto,  (journey  of  the  dead  man.)  This  desert 
ninety  miles  long,  contains  no  water  except  a  single  spring  several 
miles  from  the  road.  Many  travelers  have  perished  from  thirst, 
and  upon  the  ground  bleach  the  bones  of  scores  of  animals.  But 
two  days  before  us  the  mail  party  discovered  two  corpses  by  the 
road-side.  "We  journeyed  all  night,  and  in  the  morning  while  we 
halted  for  men  to  breakfast  and  mules  to  graze,  a  horseman  came 
into  our  camp  nearly  famished,  as  he  had  thirsted  for  twenty -four 


246 


ADVENTURES    WITH    THE    APACHES. 


[1859. 


hours.  Our  keg  of  fresh  water  strapped  behind  the  coach  revived 
him  and  he  went  on  rejoicing.  Good  riders  have  often  crossed  the 

tract  without  water 
accomplishing  the 
journey  in  a  day 
and  night,  and  not 
taking  food,  as  that 
always  aggravates 
thirst. 

Our  conductor,  a 
Virginian  who  had 
lived  for  thirteen 
years  in  this  region, 
was  an  express-ri 
der  across  the  des 
ert  for  eight  years 
before  the  estab 
lishment  of  the 
mail.  He  had  re 
peatedly  crossed 
in  twelve  hours, 

when  in  fear  of  the  Apaches,  who  murder  and  rob  upon  its  dreary 
road.  He  ran  that  gantlet  of  death  one  day  in  each  week  for 
«ight  hundred  dollars  per  annum. 

'Some  people,'  he  gossiped,  'sneer  at  running  from  Indians;  but 
/  always  found  my  heels  my  best  weapons.  Thar  was  one  Apache 
band  led  by  old  chief  Mangus,  that  came  near  getting  me.  They 
chased  me  a  heap  of  times,  and  I  thought  oncet  or  twicet  that  I 
was  gone  under,  sure.  They  were  commonly  in  companies  of  a 
dozen  to  forty ;  but  one  day  I  met  old  Mangus  alone.  He  was 
mighty  glad  to  see  me  then,  and  powerful  friendly ;  but  I  had  my 
six-shooter  cocked  in  his  face  before  he  know'd  it.  'It's  no 
use  to  play  good,'  says  I ;  '  you've  been  after  me  too  many  times. 
Now  you  d — d  old  scoundrel,  I've  got  you,  and  I'm  bound  to 
take  your  har !'  How  the  old  fellow  did  beg !  Finally  he  pawned 
me  his  honor  that  if  I'd  let  him  off  I  should  never  be  troubled 
again ;  and  he  kept  his  word.  I  rode  here  for  years  afterward, 
and  often  met  his  men,  but  nary  one  ever  molested  me.' 


'JOURNEY  OP  THE  DEAD  MAN.' 


1859.] 


MEXICANS  AND  MEXICAN  WOMEN. 


247 


Mexican  women  lie  thought  the  kindest  in  the  world.  Many 
an  American  owed  his  life  to  them.  They  were  fond  of  white 
men,  which  made  the  Greasers  jealous  and  dangerous. 

'Are  the  men  treacherous  ?' 

'/  never  had  any  trouble  with  them ;  but  stranger,  I  always 
watch  a  Greaser,  and  at  night  I  never  let  one  travel  behind  me. 
It's  the  safe  way,  if  you  don't  want  to  get  stabbed  or  shot  in  the  back.' 

All  day  without  meeting  a  human  being,  we  rode  among  dreary 
wastes  with  clumps  of  Spanish  bayonet,  grease-wood,  faint  tufts 
of  grass,  and  solitary  delicate  flowers  variegating  the  ashen 
landscape,  and  the  wonderful  mirage  painting  the  far  horizon. 
At  night,  the  desert  left  behind,  we  lodged  at  a  ranch  where  the 
face  of  the  landlord,  (an  Indiana  rover  with  a  Mexican  wife,)  so 
revealed  his  Hoosier  origin  that  he  who  ran  might  read. 

The  next  morning  we  start 
ed  by  starlight.  Day  broke 
upon  fleecy  clouds  drifting  up 
from  the  valleys  and  half  hid 
ing  the  rugged  peaks  in  float 
ing  draperies.  Beside  our 
road  many  a  rough  wooden 
cross  marks  the  spot  of  some 
violent  death.  Passing  trav 
elers  each  add  a  stone  to  the 
pile  at  its  foot,  aiding  to  form 
a  rude  monument. 

At  our  dining  station  native 
women  were  re-plastering  the 
adobe  house  with  fresh  mud, 
using  their  hands  for  trowels ; 
but  stopped  to  prepare  our 
repast.  Here  I  first  saw  the 
genuine  Mexican  grist-mill. 
It  is  locally  known  as  the 
mitata,  is  propelled  by  one-woman  power,  and  has  been  in  use 
from  remotest  antiquity.  One  of  our  dusky  entertainers  crushed 
corn  for  tortillas,  (griddle  cakes)  in  this  rude  stone  morter;  then 
another  pounded  coffee  in  it ;  then  a  third  pounded,  mixed,  and 


MEXICAN  GRIST-MILL. 


248  CONSUMPTION    OF    RED    PEPPERS.  [1859. 

baked  red  peppers  and  buffalo  meat,  for  the  chief  staple  of  OUP 
meal. 

'  Unless  your  stomach  be  strong  do  not  eat  cockroaches.'  Disre 
garding  this  wise  African  proverb  I  tasted  a  morsel  of  the  fiery 
dish.  It  was  like  red-hot  iron !  The  natives  are  extravagantly 
fond  of  it.  Bed  peppers,  in  general  use  even  before  the  Spanish 
conquest,  are  still  raised  in  enormous  quantities.  The  year's 
supply  spread  out  to  dry  upon  the  flat  roof  of  each  Mexican 
dwelling,  would  suffice  for  five  hundred  Americans.  The  pepper 
enters  into  every  article  of  food,  and  is  Nature's  preventive  of 
some  malignant  fevers  common  to  tropical  countries. 

The  next  day  we  found  many  settlements.  Each  town,  with  its 
plaza,  old  Catholic  church,  narrow  streets,  and  naked  children  is 
like  every  other.  At  every  ranch  sheep  and  goats  graze  the  hills. 
"Women  and  girls  are  husking  corn  beside  every  house,  spreading 
the  yellow  ears  upon  the  roof  to  dry.  The  stalk  is  so  sweet  that 
babies  suck  it  like  sugar. 

At  noon  while  our  coach  halted,  a  hospitable  w'idow  sent  a 
servant  with  a  lunch  of  goats'  milk  cheeses  for  the  hungry  passen 
gers.  We  spent  the  night  in  Peralta,,  at  the  house  of  a  wealthy 
native  farmer. 

Would  Senor  have  supper  ? 

Had  they  any  tea  ? 

1  Si,  Senor.' 

'Any  eggs?' 

'  Si,  Senor.' 

1  Any  mutton  V 

1  Si,  Senor.' 

Then  Senor  would  have  supper,  if  those  articles  could  be  pre 
pared  without  onions  or  red  peppers.  It  proved  a  savory  repast. 

The  house,  better  furnished  than  most  here,  had  only  two  rude 
chairs.  Mattresses  served  for  seats  by  day  and  beds  by  night. 
The  smooth,  whitewashed  walls  were  hung  with  crucifixes,,  and 
saints  in  lithograph. 

Our  swarthy  landlord  was  busy  with  his  peons  gathering  corn,  for 
November  was  close  at  hand.  His  young  wife,  prettyr.  intelligent 
and  vivacious,  went  soberly  about  the  rooms  with  a1  huge  bunch 
of  keys  dangling  by  her  side.  She  was  the  only  comely  Mexican 


1859.]  PASSING    THROUGH    ALBUQUERQUE.  249 

woman  I  ever  saw ;  and  her  little  girl  of  two  years  "had  a  face  and 
figure  which  would  have  driven  a  sculptor  mad  with  despair. 
The  youthful  matron,  to  enlarge  my  little  vocabulary  of  Span 
ish,  patiently  repeated  the  names  of  objects  about  her  house  and 
court.  Any  dullard  would  acquire  Castilian  under  such  a 
teacher.  She  spoke  no  English.  Some  idea  of  New  Mexico 
socially  may  be  gathered  from  the  statement  made  to  me  before 
leaving  El  Paso,  that  this  lady  was  the  only  woman  reputed  chaste 
on  the  entire  route  to  Santa  Fe,  three  hundred  and  fifty  miles 
through  the  most  populous  portion  of  the  Territory. 

We  passed  Albuquerque,  (population,  three  thousand,)  one  of 
the  richest  and  pleasantest  towns,  with  a  Spanish  cathedral  and 
other  buildings  more  than  two  hundred  years  old.  While  we 
were  halting,  an  enormous  pile  of  patent  office  reports  and  other 
public  documents  sent  hither  by  a  member  of  Congress,  at  the  pub 
lic  expense,  was  sold  at  auction  for  thirty-seven-and-a-half  cents. 
The  shrewd  purchaser,  an  illiterate  Mexican,  declared  that  he 
wanted  them  for  fire-wood.  It  showed  one  of  the  many  beauties 
of  the  franking  privilege. 

A  disgusted  immigrant  from  Pike's  Peak  also  arrived  with 
nine  yokes  of  oxen,  vowing  that  he  wished  himself  back  on  the 
rich  Nebraska  prairies,  that  he  would  not  exchange  his  cattle  for 
all  the  land  between  Fort  Kearney  and  Albuquerque,  but  would 
push  on  till  he  found  a  country  fit  for  white  men,  whether  it  took 
him  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  or  to  the  bottomless  pit. 

On  the  road  beyond,  farmers  were  treading  out  their  wheat  with 
horses  and  oxen  precisely  as  did  the  children  of  Israel  three 
thousand  years  ago.  Others  were  cutting  corn  with  a  rude  hoe- 
like  instrument,  threshing  wheat  upon  the  ground  with  long, 
clumsy  poles  and  mowing  grass  with  sickles.  The  ruder  and  older 
the  implements  the  better  they  suit  the  Mexican.  His  farming 
tools  show  no  improvement  upon  those  of  his  Aztec  forefathers. 
His  plow  is  only  a  crooked  stick.  Merchants  endeavored  to  intro 
duce  iron  plows  but  could  not  persuade  the  natives  to  adopt  them. 
Threshing  machines  also  were  brought  from  the  Missouri,  but  the 
ignorant  farmers  who  hire  ground,  paying  the  rent  with  a  portion 
of  the  crop,  believed  them  a  diabolical  invention  for  cheating 
them  out  of  their  share  of  wheat ! 


250 


ARRIVAL    IN    SANTA    FE. 


[1859. 


After  spending  a  night  at  Algondes  we  turned  eastward  from 
the  Kio  Grande.  A  lonely,  mountain  journey  of  a  few  hours 
brought  us  into 'Santa  Fe. 

All  New  Mexican  settlements  look  venerable.  The  adobe  build* 
ings  with  grated  windows  and  low  carved  doors  all  suggest : 

1  The  events 

Of  old  and  wondrous  times, 
Which  dim  tradition  interruptedly  teaches.' 

Titles  to  estates,  two  hundred  years  old,  are  still  preserved  in  the 
public  archives,  and  in  Taos  there  is  a  dwelling  of  Indian  origin 


A   MEXICAN   FARM-HOUSE. 


which  tradition  declares  was  built  three  centuries  ago.  In  the 
narrow,  crooked  streets  one  looks  instinctively  for  the  haughty 
Spaniard,  in  complete  steel,  striking  terror  to  the  hearts  of  the 
natives. 

Santa  Fe  de  San  Francisco,  (the  city  of  the  holy  faith  of  St. 
Francis,)  was  begun  in  the  fifteenth  century.  Its  founders  were 
of  that  wonderful  Order  whose  unflagging  zeal  and  perfect  organi- 


1859.]  HIGHEST    TOWN    IN    THE    UNION.  251 

zation  almost  achieved  the  conquest  of  the  world.  Traces  of  old 
Jesuit  missions  abound  throughout  California,  Arizona,  New 
Mexico,  old  Mexico,  and  Central  America.  These  vast  regions 
were  converted  to  the  Koman  faith  by  patient  life-long  labors  of 
the  Society  of  Jesus,  not  by  the  furious  zeal  of  Cortez  and  his 
fellow  robbers  who  hurled  the  native  idols  down  the  steps  of  their 
temples,  to  replace  them  with  the  cross.  New  Mexico,  thoroughly 
Eoman  Catholic,  contains  only  one  Protestant  church  and  one 
Protestant  school. 

Santa  Fe,  the  political  and  business  metropolis,  now  boasted 
four  thousand  inhabitants,  of  whom  three  or  four  hundred  were 
Americans.  On  the  sunny  side  of  the  plaza  i&t  dirty  boys, 
shriveled,  blanketed  old  men  and  hideous  women  vending  tortillas, 
bread,  mutton,  onions,  tomatoes,  red  peppers  and  candy.  The 
buildings  were  all  adobe  save  the  unfinished  capitol  and  the  peni 
tentiary — both  of  stone — and  one  frame  edifice.  None  except  the 
cathedral  and  a  smaller  church  were  more  than  one  story  high. 

Santa  Fe,  the  highest  town  of  any  importance  in  the  United 
States,  nestles  among  the  mountains  seven  thousand  feet  above  sea 
level.  The  overlooking  peaks  are  white  with  snow.  One  summer 
all  the  ice  in  the  city  was  bought  by  a  hotel  keeper,  who  refused 
to  sell  at  any  price  to  a  rival  house.  This  was  ruin.  Cold  water 
and  hard  butter  might  be  dispensed  with,  but  no  hotel  could  live 
here  without  sherry  cobblers  among  its  possibilities.  In  a  moment 
of  inspiration  the  landlord  sent  a  train  of  donkeys  twenty  miles 
into  the  mountains.  They  came  back  loaded  with  huge  blocks  of 
ice;  the  cobbler  trade  revived  and  prosperity  returned  'to  the 
Napoleonic  host. 

As  in  every  Spanish  American  country  the  natives  are  inveterate 
gamblers.  Soon  after  he  learns  to  walk,  the  child  risks  his  first 
penny ;  and  the  gray  haired  man  tottering  into  the  grave,  stakes 
his  only  coat  or  his  last  dollar.  Americans  too  plunge  into  games 
of  chance  with  their  national  recklessness.  Though  times  were 
now  dull,  the  city  contained  fifty  American  *  sporting  men/  as 
professional  gamblers  are  politely  termed.  At  the  Santa  Fe  hotel 
I  often  saw  three  monte  banks  in  a  single  room  in  operation  from 
daylight  until  midnight.  They  were  attended  by  a  motley  crowd 
of  Indians,  Mexicans  and  whites,  darkening  the  saloon  with 


252 


AN  EXPERIENCE  AT  GAMBLING. 


[1859. 


tobacco  smoke.     The  deep  silence  was  broken  only   by  the  jingle 
of  coins  and  the  suppressed  breath  of  players.      Enormous  piles 


GAMBLING    IX    SANTA   FE. 


of  silver  weighed  down  the  tables,  and  frequently  ten  thousand 
dollars  changed  hands  in  ten  minutes. 

Business  men  would  publicly  lose  or  win  a  thousand  dollars 
with  the  greatest  nonchalance.  One  evening  I  saw  a  clerk  with 
only  five  dollars  sit  down  to  the  game.  In  a  few  hours  he  had 
won  a  thousand,  but  before  morning  he  was  penniless.  A  young 
surveyor  after  winning  twelve  hundred  dollars,  left  the  table, 
saying: 

'  When  you  have  a  good  thing,  keep  it.' 

During  the  previous  winter,  an  American  had  enjoyed  a  rare 
'  run  of  luck.7  Knowing  nothing  about  the  game,  (and  if  it  was 
honestly  conducted  no  skill  nor  experience  could  have  aided  him,) 
he  began  betting  at  monte.  The  bank  always  began  the  evening 
with  a  capital  of  a  thousand  dollars.  For  a  month  he  staked  against 
it,  breaking  it  every  night,  and  then  found  himself  the  possessor 
of  thirty  thousand  dollars.  Now,  his  fortune  had  changed ;  every 


1859.]         CURIOSITIES    AND    HORRID    TROPHIES.  253 

evening  he  lost  heavily,  and  doubtless  he  soon  gained  his  old 
safe  stand-point  of  beggary. 

The  Santa  Fe  cathedral  is  a  huge  'adobe'  with  effigies  of  the 
Saviour  and  the  Virgin,  and  lurid  paintings  of  the  sufferings  on 
Calvary,  decorating  its  walls.  The  Sunday  congregation  was 
chiefly  women.  Unlike  the  worshippers  at  El  Paso  many  had 
adopted  the  European  fashions,  and  appeared  in  shawls  and 
bonnets.  Many  too  had  pleasing  features,  and  all  displayed  the 
sparkling  eyes  of  their  race.  Immediately  after  the  services,  at  the 
church-yard  gate,  most  of  the  masculines  lighted  their  cigars. 

The  old  men  of  Mexican  towns  look  older  than  any  others  in 
the  world.  According  to  a  local  proverb,  the  region  is  so  healthy 
that  its  aged  inhabitants  never  die,  but  dry  up  and  are  blown 
away !  Gaunt,  attenuated,  wrinkled  and  blanketed,  their  youthful 
hose  a  world  too  wide  for  their  shrunk  shanks,  they  totter  about 
like  re-vivified  Egyptian  mummies,  or  those  uneasy  ghosts  which , 

'  In  the  most  high  and  palmy  state  of  Rome, 
A  little  ere  the  mightiest  Julius  fell, 
Did  squeak  and  gibber  in  the  Roman  streets.' 

In  the  establishment  of  William  J.  Howard,  a  Santa  Fe  jeweler, 
I  found  a  long  necklace  of  the  first  joints  of  human  fingers,  col 
lected  by  the  Utes  from  Apaches  killed  in  war ;  and  another  horrid 
trophy  in  the  form  of  an  Indian  scalp  with  coarse  black  hair  two 
feet  long.  Among  the  living  wonders  were  cat-fish  with  well 
defined  legs,  curious  lizards,  horned  frogs  and  a  venerable  owl 
which  subsisted  upon  live  mice,  swallowing  them  whole.  There 
were  Aztec  battle  axes  of  marble,  Comanche  pipes  of  slate,  neck 
laces  of  bear  claws,  drinking  cups  and  cooking  utensils  of  Aztec 
and  Apache  pottery,  bows  and  arrows,  spears,  shields,  curious 
petrifactions  of  wood,  and  specimens  of  native  lead,  copper,  silver, 
amethyst,  alabaster,  quicksilver  and  gold — the  last  very  fine  and 
beautiful.  New  Mexico  abounds  in  mineral  treasures ;  and  before 
it  was  Americanized  the  Mexicans  dug  gold  from  its  mountains  to 
the  amount  of  three  hundred  thousand  dollars  per  year.  Now 
most  Americans  are  engaged  in  trading;  but  ere  long  a  mining 
excitement  will  cause  immigrants  to  pour  in  and  revolutionize  the 
country  socially  and  politically. 
17 


254  FAMILIES    OF    WHITE    INDIANS.  [1859. 

Some  silver  mining  is  done,  but  the  general  feeling  is  expressed 
by  the  Mexican  proverb  that  only  three  classes  of  men  work  silver 
mines :  those  who  have  other  people's  money  to  spend,  those  who 
have  more  money  than  they  know  what  to  do  with,  and,  fools. 

Mr.  Howard  collected  his  curiosities  during  a  visit  to  the  Zunians 
a  branch  of  the  Pueblo  Indians  among  the  mountains,  far  from 
any  white  settlers  or  Mexicans.  Among  them  he  found  four 
white  Indians  with  blue  eyes  and  flaxen  hair.  Tradition  asserts 
that  a  few  families  of  the  tribe  have  always  been  of  this  com 
plexion.  The  other  Zunians  make  these  whites  perform  all  the 
manual  labor,  refusing  to  associate  or  intermarry  with  them.  I 
have  already  related  how  the  mixed  Choctaws  render  pure  whites 
ineligible  to  their  highest  offices.  And  I  remember  a  Kansas 
Delaware  half-breed,  so  indignant  because  three  or  four  mulatto 
boys  were  admitted  to  the  only  accessible  school,  that  he  permitted 
his  eight  children  to  grow  up  in  ignorance.  Though  some  of  our 
fantastic  tricks  before  high  heaven  may  make  the  angels  weep,  our 
prejudices  against  color  must  make  them  smile. 

All  groceries  and  other  supplies  for  New  Mexico  were  hauled 
from  the  Missouri.  New  York  to  Kansas  City  (railroads)  four 
teen  hundred  miles;  freights  one  and  a  half  cents  per  pound. 
Kansas  City  to  Santa  Fe  (wagon  roads)  eight  hundred  and  forty 
miles ;  ten  cents  per  pound.  Moral :  the  Pacific  Kail  way. 

Dancing,  a  passion  with  the  ancient  Aztecs  and  mingling  in  all 
their  religious  exercises,  continues  the  staple  amusement  of  their 
mixed  descendants.  There  were  three  or  four  fandangoes  in 
Santa  Fe  every  night,  the  Mexicans  always  participating  with 
wonderful  zest. 

There  were  only  one  or  two  American  ladies  in  the  Territory ; 
though  the  number  has  since  increased.  Many  native  women 
Were  mistresses  of  the  white  residents  by  the  consent,  even  the 
desire,  of  their  degraded  husbands.  Chastity  is  practically  un 
known  among  them,  but  they  possess  all  the  other  distinctive  vir 
tues  of  their  sex.  These  poor  creatures,  utterly  devoid  of  personal 
purity,  willing  to  give  or  suffer  any  thing  to  obtain  jewelry  and 
silks,  are  uniformly  tender  and  self  sacrificing,  ready  to  divide 
their  last  crust  with  the  hungry,  and  deny  themselves  every  com 
fort  to  nurse  the  sick  and  minister  to  the  wretched. 


1859.]  FASCINATION    OF    BORDER    LIFE.  255 

Is  there  some  drop  of  Bedouin  blood  even  in  the  blue  veins  of  civ 
ilized  man?  In  1855,  Sir  George  Gore  an  Irish  nobleman  with  an 
annual  income  of  two  hundred  thousand  dollars,  buried  himself  in 
the  Rocky  Mountains  to  spend  two  years  in  hunting,  fishing  and 
periling  his  scalp  among  the  Indians.  The  few  white  residents  of 
this  Territory  find  strange  fascination  in  its  isolation,  lawlessness 
and  danger.  Whenever  I  asked  if  they  did  not  find  it  lonely, 
they  indignantly  replied  that  no  temptation  could  induce  them  to 
return  to  their  former  homes.  An  old  trader,  Colonel  Ceran  St. 
Vrain,  after  accumulating  an  ample  fortune,  went  to  New  York 
city  with  the  determination  of  spending  his  days.  But  he  found 
life  there  insupportable,  and  soon  returned  to  New  Mexico  vowing 
he  would  never  leave  it  again. 

Here,  as  in  Arizona  and  Idaho,  the  Indians  are  always  trouble 
some.  A  year  before  my  visit,  William  J.  Rose,  with  twenty 
families  a  costly  stock  of  goods  and  three  hundred  and  fifty  cattle, 
started  for  California.  The  Mojaves  captured  the  goods  stock  and 
wagons,  and  killed  several  of  the  emigrants.  One  youth,  shot 
from  his  horse,  was  lying  half  insensible  with  an  arrow  sticking  in 
his  head,  when  a  savage  approached  with  a  bloody  knife.  The 
boy  had  made  up  his  mind  to  die,  but  scalping  was  more  than  he 
bargained  for.  Terror  inspired  him  with  such  new  vigor  that  he 
leaped  upon  his  horse  and  the  faithful  animal  bore  him  out  of 
danger.  Rose  lost  every  dollar  of  his  property,  but  in  this  novel 
region  however  far  down  one  sank  in  the  deep,  deep  sea  of  pe 
cuniary  ruin,  he  soon  rose  again.  Now,  Rose  was  the  flourishing 
landlord  of  the  Santa  Fe  hotel,  with  an  income  of  a  thousand 
dollars  per  week. 


256  A    STEAY    PRINTER    AND    JOURNALIST.         [1859, 


CHAPTER    XXII. 


I  DESIGNED  returning  from  Santa  Fe  by  the  weekly  mail  direct 
to  Kansas  City,  eight  hundred  and  forty  miles.  But  the  Kiowa 
Indians  after  blockading  the  route  for  a  month,  had  captured  the 
two  last  eastward  coaches,  stolen  the  stock  and  left  thirteen  pas 
sengers,  including  two  women,  killed  and  scalped  by  the  road 
side.  The  indignation  of  the  people  at  the  failure  of  Government 
to  protect  immigrants  and  freighters,  found  vent  in  maledictions  in 
bastard  Spanish  and  broken  English. 

My  own  line  of  march  was  cut  off.  Eastward  the  Kansas  City 
route  might  remain  closed  for  months.  I  could  retrace  my  steps 
south  to  El  Paso,  and  return  by  the  Butterfield  Line ;  but  with 
that,  familiarity  had  bred  contempt.  Northward,  toward  Pike's 
Peak,  were  no  carriage  roads,  but  the  lonely  trail  promised  novelty 
and  adventure. 

While  I  was  pondering  upon  ways  and  means,  a  '  sporting  man ' 
introduced  himself  as  a  stray  New  York  printer  and  journalist, 
arid  inquired  if  he  could  serve  me.  I  wanted  to  reach  Taos ;  and 
as  good  luck  would  have  it,  he  desired  to  send  thither  a  pony 
which  he  had  borrowed  from  a  Taos  Indian.  Gladly  accepting 
the  proffer,  I  sold  all  my  luggage  except  one  blanket  and  a  few 
indispensables  which  could  be  pressed  into  saddle  bags. 

At  the  hotel  supper-table  I  noticed  a  stout  middle-aged  man, 
with  straight  brown  hair,  mild  eye  and  kindly  face.  He  wore  a 
suit  of  gray,  and  looked  like  an  Illinois  farmer;  but  when  he 
took  off  his  hat  the  face  and  head  indicated  character.  My 
printer-gambler  friend  nodded  to  the  new-comer,  and  I  asked : 

'Who  is  he?' 

*  Kit  Carson,  the  mountaineer.' 


1859.] 


A    RIDE    WITH    KIT    CARSON. 


257 


KIT   CARSON. 


Carson  was  about  returning  home  to  Taos,  and  at  ten  the  next 
morning  we  galloped  away  together.  He  was  reputed  the  most 
daring  and  reckless'  of  riders.  I 
had  not  mounted  a  horse  for  months 
and  was  still  weak  and  reduced  in 
flesh.  But  we  flew  over  the  rocks 
through  canyons  and  across  ditches 
until  my  blood  tingled  to  the  finger 
tips.  Kit's  special  delight  was  to 
dash  down  steep  hills  at  full  gallop. 
This  new  experience  made  me  shud 
der.  But  he  was  far  heavier  than  I 
and  his  American  horse  nearly  twice 
as  tall  as  my  little  steed.  Moreover 
Indian  ponies  rarely  stumble,  so  the 
odds  were  largely  in  my  favor.  Our 

road  was  nearly  all  hills ;  and  after  three  or  four  trials  I  began  to 
enjoy  it  and  to  forget  the  Spanish  proverb :  'A  running  horse  is  an 
open  sepulcher.'  On  foot  Carson  looks  stout  and  ungraceful.  He 
avers  that  much  riding  with  the  short  stirrups  of  the  border  has 
made  him  bow-legged ;  but  he  sits  a  borse  splendidly  and  rides 
with  rare  grace  and  skill. 

He  declares  that  the  happiest  years  of  his  life  were  spent  as  a 
mountain  trapper.  Like  all  men  in  constant  peril  and  excite 
ments,  the  trappers  found  strange  fascination  in  their  dangerous 
career,  though  the  rifles  and  arrows  of  bloodthirsty  savages  made 
it  a  constant  race  with  death.  They  adopted  the  dress  and  habits 
of  the  Aborigines,  buying  one  or  more  squaws  to  lighten  their 
labors  and  *  rear  their  dusky  race.'  Kit  gave  me  a  striking  illus 
tration  of  the  healthfulness  of  mountain  air  and  out-door  life  : 

« Our  ordinary  fare  consisted  of  fresh  beaver  and  buffalo-meat, 
without  any  salt,  bread,  or  vegetables.  Once  or  twice  a  year, 
when  supplies  arrived  from  the  States,  we  had  flour  and  coffee  for 
one  or  two  meals,  though  they  cost  one  dollar  a  pint.  During  the 
winter,  visiting  our  traps  twice  a  day,  we  were  often  compelled  to 
break  the  ice,  and  wade  in  the  water  up  to  our  waists.  Notwith 
standing  these  hardships  sickness  was  absolutely  unknown  among 
us.  I  lived  ten  years  in  the  mountains,  with  from  one  to  three 


258  HIS    HAIR-BREADTH    'SCAPES.  [1859. 

hundred  trappers,  and  I  cannot  remember  that  a  single  one  of 
them  died  from  disease.' 

In  that  golden  age  of  the  trappers,  beaver-skins  commanded 
eight  dollars  a  pound,  and  every  stream  and  canyon  was  rich  in 
game.  Now,  beavers  and  otters  were  almost  extinct,  and  the  few 
remaining  trappers,  like  true  conservatives,  sighed  for  the  *  good 
old  times.' 

"With  something  of  the  modesty  of  true  greatness  Carson  never 
spoke  of  his  own  exploits  except  in  reply  to  my  questions.  Then 
he  described  some  exciting  battles,  including  the  story  of  four 
trappers  in  a  mountain  stronghold  who  kept  a  hundred  and  fifty 
Blackfeet  at  bay  for  half  a  day,  and  finally  defeated  them.  He 
said  that  as  a  boy  he  was  daring  and  reckless ;  but  now  when 
traveling  he  exercised  great  vigilance,  having  seen  many  of  his 
comrades  killed  by  Indians  through  their  own  carelessness.  Once 
he  was  in  the  Snake  Indian  country,  with  five  companions.  One 
night  a  party  of  wily  Sioux,  completely  disguised  in  wolf-skins, 
and  tapping  buffalo  bones  together  to  imitate  the  snapping  of 
wolves'  teeth,  stole  into  their  camp  so  adroitly  that  they  never 
suspected  their  visitors  to  be  human  until  they  rose  up  with  a 
yell  and  began  to  shoot.  All  the  whites  were  killed  except 
Carson. 

The  flesh  of  a  wild  horse  he  deemed  better  than  any  other  meat. 
A  young  mule  furnished  excellent  steaks,  but  meat  from  an  old 
one  was  tough,  strong-flavored,  and  unpalatable.  The  most 
sorrowful  meal  he  ever  took  was  when  necessity  compelled  him 
to  kill  and  -eat  a  faithful  horse  which  had  borne  him  many 
hundred  miles.  He  loved  Fremont  and  spoke  enthusiastically 
of  the  pleasant  years  they  spent  together. 

Our  road  led  over  barren  plains  and  among  snow-streaked 
mountains ;  but  passed  some  rich  valley -farms,  with  speckled 
ripening  corn  and  plump  wheat. 

Turning  our  horses  out  to  graze,  we  lunched  upon  bread  and 
dried  buffalo  meat,  and  smoked  our  mid-day  cigars  upon  the 
grassy  bank  of  a  clear  stream,  in  the  Canada  (pronounced  *  can-?/a- 
tha,')  a  battle-ground  of  the  Mexican  war.  Here  General  Sterling 
Price,  with  four  hundred  Americans,  defeated  two  thousand  Mexi 
cans.  Histories  describe  the  charge  of  his  soldiers  up  the  steep 


1859.]  HOSPITALITY    OF    THE    MEXICAN.  259 

hill-side  as  bloody  and  gallant,  adding  in  confirmation  that  the 
Americans  lost  one  man ! 

Starting  again  we  struck  the  Rio  Grande,  here  an  insignificant 
stream  in  a  narrow  valley.  At  four,  P.  M.,  the  sun  had  disap 
peared  ;  so  we  halted  at  a  spacious  adobe  whose  swarthy  owner 
received  us  in  great  dirt  and  dignity.  We  performed  our  ablu 
tions  in  the  little  acequia  or  irrigating  canal ;  supped  on  mutton, 
frijoks  and  eggs  and  slept  on  floor-mattresses  with  yellow-haired 
saints  and  a  pink-faced  virgin  staring  down  from  the  walls. 

Breakfasting  at  daylight  before  our  host  was  up,  we  left  a  quar 
ter-eagle  upon  his  table  and  started  on.  The  hospitable  Mexican 
entertains  all  travelers,  but  never  demands  payment,  leaving 
that  question  wholly  to  his  guest. 

We  galloped  through  El  Ambudo,  (the  funnel,)  in  1847  scene 
of  another  sanguinary  battle,  in  which  two  hundred  Americans 
under  a  raking  fire  dislodged  five  hundred  of  their  foes,  and  had 
but  one  man  killed  !  That  is  our  version ;  but  like  the  lion  in  the 
fable  the  Mexicans  had  no  painter. 

We  entered  a  dark  cold  canyon,  its  frowning  walls  crowned 
with  odorous  pine  and  hemlock.  The  mountain  scenery  grew  so 
wild  that  I  lingered  behind  my  companion  to  enjoy  it.  In  a 
lonely  dell  I  was  stopped  by  two  brawny  Indians,  who  imperiously 
demanded  whisky  and  tobacco,  and  manifested  an  unpl easing 
interest  in  my  saddle-bags.  A  handful  of  smoking  tobacco  failing 
to  satisfy  them,  I  drew  my  revolver  and  sternly  motioned  them 
away.  They  instantly  obeyed;  but  had  they  known  how  poor  a 
marksman  I  was  they  would  have  laughed  in  my  face.  Next  I 
encountered  a  party  of  Apaches  moving  their  village,  with  chil 
dren  and  household  utensils  in  baskets  suspended  from  the 
dragging  lodge-poles. 

At  two,  P.  M.,  sore  in  every  joint,  from  the  ride  of  eighty 
miles,  equal  to  one  hundred  and  twenty  upon  level  roads,  I 
reached  Taos,  and  was  soon  housed  under  Carson's  roof. 

Taos,  (named  from  an  Indian  tribe  now  extinct,)  beside  the 
narrow,  flashing  Taos  river  which  gushes  from  the  mountains  a 
few  miles  above,  has  two  thousand  five  hundred  inhabitants.  It 
is  the  third  city  of  New  Mexico,  Santa  Fe  being  the  first  and 
Albuquerque  the  second.  With  irrigation  its  valley  produces 


260 


THE    YICTIM    OF    A    BIOGRAPHEE. 


[1859 


bountiful  crops  of  wheat  which  is  chiefly  converted  into  whisky, 
known  throughout  the  far  West  as  '  Taos  lightning.'  The  native 
women  are  the  most  comely  in  the  Territory. 

Here  at  the  age  of  fifty  Kit  Carson  had  settled  to  crown  a  youth 
of  labor  with  an  age  of  ease.  His  wife  was  an  intelligent  Spanish 
lady,  and  his  home  was  brightened  by  four  or  five  children.  He 


MEXICAN   CARRIAGES. 


had  accumulated  a  handsome  competence  and  was  now  Govern 
ment  agent  for  the  Ute  Indians  with  a  salary  of  one  thousand 
dollars  per  year.  Owning  a  large  farm  with  many  horses  and 
mules,  he  designed  thenceforward  to  avoid  horseback  riding  and 
travel  only  in  carriages, —  a  plan  which  he  doubtless  carried  out 
as  far  as  practicable  in  a  country  destitute  of  wagon  roads. 

He  is  by  birth  a  Kentuckian,  of  excellent  abilities  but  narrow 
education.  Eeading  with  difficulty,  and  writing  little  beyond  his 
own  name,  he  speaks  fluently  English,  French,  Spanish,  and  sev 
eral  Indian  tongues,  all  acquired  orally.  As  if  figuring  fancifully 
in  romances  numerous  and  yellow-covered  were  not  misfortune 
enough,  he  is  also  the  victim  of  a  biographer.  His  romantic  life 
is  set  forth  in  a  large  octavo  volume,  from  data  furnished  by 
himself  to  a  persistent  author.  He  confessed  to  me — most  modest 


1859.] 


ALL  ABOUT  MEXICAN  DONKEYS 


261 


of  heroes — that  he  had  looked  into  the  book  here  and  there  but 
had  never  read  it ! 

He  is  a  gentleman  by  instinct ;  upright,  pure,  and  simple-hearted, 
beloved  alike  by  Indians,  Mexicans,  and  Americans.  When  serv 
ing  as  scout  and  guiding  Fremont  on  his  explorations  he  held  a 
lieutenant's  commission  in  our  army.  After  several  years  of  civil 
life  he  was  made  a  brigadier  general  of  volunteers  during  the  war 
for  the  Union,  and  he  now  commands  a  fort  in  New  Mexico. 

The  narrow  streets  of  Taos,  like  those  of  Santa  Fe  and  El  Paso ; 
are  usually  crowded  with  '  Mexican  carriages.'  The  burro,  or 
donkey,  little  larger  than  a  Newfoundland  dog,  serves  for  mule, 
ox,  horse,  cart,  and  barouche.  He  staggers  like  a  runaway  hay 
stack  under  huge  loads  of  grass,  straw,  husks,  and  corn-stalks. 
He  brings  from  the  mountains  enormous  piles  of  pine  and  cedar 
for  fuel.  He  transports  trunks,  sacks  of  coffee,  kegs,  and  even 
barrels  of  whisky.  Often  he  carries  burdens  quite  as  heavy  as 
himself.  Women  and  children  jog  soberly  along  upon  the  patient 
little  beast.  They  use  neither  saddle  nor  bridle  but  guide  him 
by  a  club,  mercilessly  thwacking  his  thick  skull.  While  making  a 
call  or  visiting  a  trading  house  they  leave  him  alone  for  hours.  They 
1  hitch  '  him  by  throw 
ing  a  blanket  over  his 
head  which  blindfolds 
him  and  prevents  his 
stirring  an  inch.  The  du 
ties  of  the  burro  are  as 
varied,  exacting,  and  lit 
tle  appreciated  as  those 
of  a  country  clergyman 
or  a  metropolitan  editor. 
He  ought  to  take  the  place 
of  the  eagle  on  the  na 
tional  device  of  the  Mexi 
can  republic.  HITCHING  A  DONKEY. 

The  American  residents 

claimed  that  the  instinctive  hostility  of  the  natives,  who  formed  a 
majority  upon  all  juries,  rendered  it  impossible  to  punish  any 
Mexican  through  the  courts,  for  the  grossest  outrages  upon  '  white 


j 


262  THE    REBELLION    OF    1847.  [1859. 

men.1  This  was  their  excuse  for  wearing  revolvers  and  knives 
and  wreaking  private  revenge  for  every  real  or  fancied  injury. 
Homicides  even  among  themselves  were  common ;  and  in  that 
marvelously  healthful  climate  there  was  some  foundation  for  the 
current  proverb  that  Yankees  never  died  except  from  revolver 
shots,  hard  drinking,  or  a  personal  vice  still  more  repulsive. 

I  heard  a  hopeful  American  youth  of  seventeen,  who  with 
drawn  bowie  knife  had  wantonly  attacked  a  native  at  a  fandango, 
bitterly  regret  that  he  was  not  able  to  *  cut  the  Greaser  in  two « 
before  they  were  separated.  And  a  burly  Mexican,  in  a  frenzy 
of  anger,  cut  off  the  ears  of  his  wife !  For  a  timid  gentleman  of 
quiet  habits  the  society  was  not  alluring ! 

Our  Government  acquired  this  extensive  Territory  almost  with 
out  bloodshed  during  the  Mexican  war.  A  year  after  its  annexa 
tion,  in  a  general  rebellion  which  began  at  Taos,  Mexicans  and 
Indians  massacred  Governor  William  Bent,  every  other  United 
States  civil  officer  whether  of  Mexican  or  American  birth,  and  most 
of  the  white  private  citizens.  Carson  was  absent  from  home,  but 
the  savages  who  took  every  thing  from  his  house  even  stole  all  the 
clothing  from  his  wife's  person  except  her  chemise.  They  scalped 
their  victims  and  burned  out  the  eyes  of  one,  a  lawyer  from  Ohio, 
before  life  was  extinct.  Friendly  native  women  had  given  fre 
quent  warnings,  and  some  escaped  the  massacre  by  flight.  The, 
national  authority  was  soon  restored  and  eighteen  of  the  murderers 
were  hanged. 

The  old  Aztec  priests  had  the  confessional,  granted  absolution 
and  taught  the  people  to  dramatize  scenes  in  the  lives  of  their 
gods.  These  customs  were  easily  assimilated  to  the  new  faith. 
During  Holy  week,  in  all  large  towns,  churches  and  altars  are 
richly  adorned,  priests  appear  in  gorgeous  robes,  and  figures  of 
the  Saviour  and  the  virgin,  as  large  as  life,  are  exhibited. 

The  European  *  mysteries '  of  the  middle  ages  originated  with 
returned  pilgrims  from  the  Holy  Land,  who,  in  public  streets, 
leaning  upon  well-worn  staffs,  and  wearing  cloaks  and  chaplets 
picturesquely  decorated  with  shells  and  images,  recited  poems 
describing  the  consecrated  spots  they  had  visited,  interwoven  with 
traditions,  simple  and  extravagant,  of  Christ  and  the  apostles.  In 
time  pious  citizens  erected  stages  for  these  performances.  One  of 


1859.]    CUKIOUS  RELIGIOUS  CUSTOMS   OF  NATIVES.      263 

the  quaint  dramas  represented  the  beloved  apostle  cast  into  a 
caldron  of  boiling  oil.  Another  exhibited  the  eleven  drawing  lots 
with  straws  for  a  successor  to  the  apostate  Judas.  Some  be 
gan  with  the  creation  and  ended  with  the  last  judgment — at  least 
a  comprehensive  plan.  Even  the  Almighty  was  personated ;  and 
anecdotes  are  preserved  of  one  curate  who  came  near  expiring  on 
the  cross,  and  another,  who  while  playing  Judas  and  hanging 
upon  a  tree  narrowly  escaped  suffocation  through  the  slipping  of 
his  rope.  The  New  Mexican  devotees  closely  imitate  their  medi 
eval  prototypes,  enacting  the  trial  of  Christ,  the  ghastly  death,  the 
watching  of  the  body  by  Pontius  Pilate,  (!)  and  other  incidents 
real,  fanciful,  and  grotesque  in  the  first  great  tragedy  of  the  Chris 
tian  religion. 

The  Aztec  priests  fasted  and  did  cruel  penance,  scourging  and 
piercing  themselves  with  thorns,  until  blood  streamed  from  their 
wounds.  The  Penitentes,  a  secret  society  of  the  most  ignorant 
Catholics  including  many  criminals,  still  reproduce  these  horrors. 
They  spend  Easter  week  in  a  secluded  lodge  or  ranch,  dragging 
stones,  crucifixes,  and  other  heavy  burdens,  cutting  their  flesh 
with  swords,  and  tearing  it  with  cactus  thorns.  On  Thursday  and 
Friday,  wearing  only  drawers,  they  are  led  blindfolded  through 
the  streets,  lashing  themselves  with  a  tough  weed  until  blood  flows 
freely,  sometimes  to  the  infliction  of  fatal  injuries.  These  tortures 
end  in  the  cathedral,  where  they  represent  the  darkness  and 
chaos  which  they  believe  followed  the  crucifixion.  After  again 
lashing  their  bodies  pitilessly,  they  remain  in  total  darkness  for 
an  hour,  groaning,  shrieking,  and  hurling  sticks  and  stones.  This 
week  of  penance  they  deem  ample  atonement  for  all  their  sins  of 
the  year. 

The  priests  (Irish  and  French,  with  a  few  natives)  are  often 
very  ignorant.  Nearly  all  live  openly  with  mistresses,  whose 
children  bear  the  mother's  name,  though  their  paternity  is  neither 
concealed  nor  denied.  The  priests'  marriage  fees  range  from  ten 
to  one  hundred  dollars.  Among  the  poor,  burial  costs  from  one 
dollar  to  one  hundred,  according  to  the  distance  of  the  grave 
from  the  altar.  The  wealthy  are  sometimes  charged  a  thousand 
dollars  for  interment  in  sacred  earth. 

The  personal  names  of  these  devout  Catholics  startle  Protestant 


264 


MEXICAN    PEONAGE    VERSUS    SLAVERY.        [1859. 


ears.     I  encountered  one  dirty,  cut-throat  looking  Mexican  bearing 
the   appelation  Juan  de  Dios — 'John  of  God;'  and  received  an 

invitation  to  a  baile 
at  the  house  of  Don 
Jesus  Vigil.  Jesus 
(pronounced  He-soos)  is 
very  common;  one  na 
tive  near  Taos  is  called 
Jesus  Christo. 

Degenerate  descend 
ants  of  that  strange  race, 
whose  'gorgeous  semi- 
civilization'  was  once 
the  world's  wonder, 
modern  Mexicans  are 
treacherous,  effeminate, 
cowardly  and  super 
stitious,  almost  meriting 
John  Randolph's  bitter 
invective:  'a  blanketed 
nation  of  thieves  and 
harlots.' 

Conceded  to  the  southern  Propagandists,  New  Mexico  kept 
the  word  of  promise  to  the  ear  and  broke  it  to  the  hope.  With 
the  most  barbarous  and  rigid  slave  code  in  the  entire  Union, 
(shrewdly  enacted  by  native  legislators  to  secure  favor  from 
Buchanan's  administration)  the  slaves  within  her  borders  numbered 
less  than  twenty.  Peon  labor  was  cheaper,  and  the  Mexican 
would  treat  the  African  as  an  equal.  A  disgusted  Southron  com 
plained  to  me: 

*  Before  a  nigger  has  been  here  a  month  he  knows  more  than  his 
master.' 

Pueblo  (Spanish :  '  a  village')  is  the  name  applied  to  a  scattered 
race  of  half-civilized  Indians  who  live  in  towns  and  claim  to  be 
unmixed  descendants  of  the  ancient  Aztecs.  They  never  inter 
marry  with  whites,  and  their  women  (almost  the  solitary  exception 
to  Indian  tribes  in  general)  are-  reputed  inflexibly  chaste.  Each 
of  their  twenty  villages  is  independent,  with  a  democratic  govern* 


PEN1TENTES    LASHING   THEMSELVES. 


1859.]  AMONG    THE    PUEBLO    INDIANS.  265 

ment.  The  largest  nestles  at  the  foot  of  the  mountains  two  miles 
from  Taos.  The  huge  adobe  buildings  which  look  like  fortresses, 
are  of  five  or  six  stories,  each  smaller  than  the  one  beneath,  and 
forming  a  terrace,  till  one  little  chamber  crowns  the  whole.  There 
are  no  doors  on  the  ground  floor,  but  inmates  ascend  to  the  roof 
of  the  first  story  by  a  ladder — drawing  it  up  at  night,  for  security 
against  intruders — and  enter  by  a  trap-door.  They  formerly  kept 
sentinels  upon  the  house-top,  but  in  these  piping  times  of  peace 
the  custom  is  discarded.  Each  dwelling  contains  many  families. 

One  evening  I  saw  a  muscular  Pueblo  native  in  no  clothing 
except  a  breech  cloth,  standing  upon  his  roof  apparently  engaged 
in  worship.  Noticing  me,  he  discontinued  his  orisons,  and  with 
pantomimic  eloquence  attempted  to  sell,  first  a  plate  offrijoles  then 
a  string  of  peppers,  then  some  enormous  squashes.  Failing  in  all 
these  he  crowned  his  commercial  attempts  by  pointing  at  the  pony 
I  bestrode  and  uttering  his  only  English  word : 

'Swap?' 

My  negative  was  the  last  grain  of  sand,  and  he  turned  despair 
ingly  away.  Hard  by  stood  the  old  church  with  crumbling  walls, 
which  one  thousand  five  hundred  insurgent  Mexicans  and  Pueblos 
occupied  as  a  fort  after  the  massacres  of  1847.  The  attacking 
Americans,  numbering  four  hundred,  were  led  by  Kit  Carson  and 
Colonel  St.  Vrain.  After  skirmishing  for  an  entire  day  the  rebels 
retreated.  The  hindmost  fifty  were  killed  almost  to  a  man,  by  a 
Government  force  lying  in  ambush  near  their  road. 

Though  these  anomalous  Indians  are  professed  Catholics,  some 
vaguely  worship  a  great  Father  who  lives  where  the  sun  rises,  and 
a  great  Mother  whose  home  is  where  it  sets.  A  few  who  adhere 
to  the  Aztec  faith,  cherish  a  tradition  that  Montezuma  established 
this  Taos  village,  taught  them  to  build  pueblos,  and  kindled 
sacred  fires  for  their  priests  to  guard.  That  he  also  founded  the 
pueblo  at  Pecos,  where  he  planted  a  tree,  predicting  that  after  his 
disappearance  there  would  be  no  rain,  and  a  foreign  race  would 
subjugate  them.  But  he  commanded  them  to  keep  the  sacred  fires 
burning  until  the  fall  of  the  tree,  when  white  men  from  the  east 
would  overwhelm  their  oppressors,  rain  would  again  increase  and 
he  would  soon  reestablish  his  kingdom.  They  aver  that  the  tree 
fell  just  as  the  triumphant  Americans  entered  Santa  Fe  in  1846. 


266        THEIR    SUPERSTITIONS    AND    TRADITIONS.    [1859. 

For  years  the  Indians  of  that  pueblo  had  been  decreasing ;  and 
just  then  an  old  man  the  last  in  the  long  line  of  priesthood  died 
at  his  post,  and  the  holy  fire  was  extinguished. 


THE   TAGS  PUEBLO. 

The  country  indicates  that  in  former  ages  rain  was  much  more 
abundant  than  now;  and  the  Pueblos 'point  triumphantly  to  the 
fact  that  it  has  increased  since  the  advent  of  the  whites.  In  the 
mountains  they  still  burn  the  hallowed  flames,  and  anxiously 
await  the  return  of  Montezurna.  In  some  pueblos  a  sentinel 
regularly  climbs  to  the  house-top  at  sunrise  and  looks  toward  the 
east  for  his  coming. 

Like  the  men  of  Mars  Hill  they  believe  in  ( the  unknown  God,' 
whose  name  is  too  holy  to  be  spoken.  They  hold  sacred  all 
animals  living  in  or  near  water,  which  in  their  rainless  climate  is 
the  choicest  of  blessings. 

They  have  a  tradition  that  at  the  flood  a  few  faithful  Zunians 
gathered  upon  a  mountain  top,  and  waited  long  but  in  vain  for  the 
waters  to  subside.  At  last,  a  youth  of  royal  blood  and  a  beautiful 


1859.]  STRANGE    OLD    AZTEC    KUINS.  267 

virgin,  decorated  with  feathers,  were  let  down  from  the  cliff  as  a 
propitiatory  offering  to  the  angry  Deity.  The  waters  soon  fell,  and 
youth  and  maiden  were  transformed  into  statues  of  stone,  still 
pointed  out  to  the  credulous  among  the  Zuni  mountains. 

A  hundred  miles  southeast  of  Santa  Fe  are  extensive  saline 
lakes  supplying  the  entire  Territory  with  salt.  Near  them  the 
ruins  of  a  city  contain  the  remains  of  an  aqueduct  twelve  miles 
long,  walls  of  churches,  Castilian  coats  of  arms  and  deep  pits  in 
the  earth.  It  was  probably  a  Spanish  silver  mining  town  de 
stroyed  in  1680,  when  the  natives  killed  or  drove  out  all  the  in 
vaders.  The  ruins  of  several  walled  towns  reveal  pottery  and 
other  articles  similar  to  those  found  in  the  city  of  Mexico.  Euins 
in  Navajoe  county  include  the  remains  of  enormous  houses,  of  im 
posing  architecture.  In  some,  explorers  have  counted  the  traces 
of  one  hundred  and  sixty  distinct  rooms  "upon  the  ground  floor. 
The  fallen  beams  and  rafters  were  hewn  with  dull  axes  apparently 
of  stone. 

Nearly  three  hundred  years  ago,  Spanish  missionaries  found  in 
New  Mexico  half-civilized  Indians  who  raised  cotton,  manufac 
tured  cloth,  and  lived  in  towns  with  regular  streets  squares  and 
dwellings  like  those  of  the  present  Pueblos. 

Dr.  J.  S.  Newberry  of  the  United  States  army,  found  remark 
able  ruins  of  old  pueblos  on  the  San  Juan  river,  then  in  New 
Mexico  now  in  the  southwest  corner  of  Colorado.  One  of  these 
deserted  human  bee-hives  was  inclosed  by  sandstone  walls  five 
hundred  feet  long,  twelve  inches  thick  and  thirty  feet  high,  and 
as  true  and  smooth  as  the  walls  of  the  Astor  House.  The  marks 
on  the  few  timbers  still  preserved,  and  implements  found  in  the 
vicinity,  indicate  that  logs  and  rocks  were  split  and  hewn  with 
tools  of  hard  stone.  The  huge  edifice,  six  stories  high,  was  di 
vided  into  small  rooms,  very  evenly  and  beautifully  plastered  with 
gypsum. 

The  San  Juan  valley  contains  many  of  these  ruins  which  have 
been  deserted  from  three  hundred  to  five  hundred  years.  Once  it 
swarmed  with  the  busy  life  of  half  a  million  of  people,  now  it  has 
no  human  being.  Dr.  Newberry  inquired  the  reason  of  this  from 
an  old  and  intelligent  Pueblo  chief,  who  replied  that  at  the  invasion 
by  Cortez,  Montezurna  made  such  heavy  drafts  upon  the  able- 


268          GEOLOGICAL   CHANGES  IN    THE   COUNTRY.    [1859. 

bodied  men  of  the  province  as  to  leave  old  men,  women  and 
children  unable  to  defend  themselves  from  the  surrounding  Utes, 
Apaches  and  Navajoes,  and  compeled  the  entire  population  to 
emigrate  southward.  This  theory  is  supported  by  the  fact  that 
the  most  ancient  pueblos,  which  were  built  in  mountain  fastnesses 
easily  defensible  against  numbers  and  valor,  are  still  inhabited, 
while  those  in  the  open  country  are  deserted. 

Hundreds  of  acres  of  large  cedars,  all  dead  from  drowth,  and 
the  circumstance  that  no  water  is  found  within  miles  of  many  of 
these  ruined  cities,  prove  that  the  country  was  once  far  less  dry 
than  now.  The  elevation  of  the  land  for  a  few  feet  through 
some  geological  agency  or  the  depression  of  the  surface  of  the 
Gulf  o(  California,  would  have  been  sufficient  to  produce  the 
change. 

The  approach  of  winter  forbade  me  to  linger  among  the 
strange  scenery,  inhabitants,  antiquities  and  traditions  of  this  most 
interesting  and  least  known  of  all  our  Territories.  Three  times 
larger  than  New  England,  it  is  all  mountainous.  Even  the  narrow 
valleys  of  the  streams  are  tillable  only  with  irrigation.  It  has  no 
navigable  rivers.  Though  the  Eio  Grande  is  two  thousand  miles 
long,  vessels  ascend  only  two  hundred  miles  above  its  mouth. 

Of  the  inhabitants,  eighty  thousand  are  Mexicans,  two  thou 
sand  Americans,  ten  thousand  civilized  Indians,  and  about  fifty 
thousand  fierce  savages  who  roam  the  mountain  ranges.  Twice 
or  thrice  New  Mexico  has  suffered  from  the  frontier  epidemic  of 
constitution-making;  but  until  new  gold  discoveries  bring  in 
thousands  of  immigrants  to  develop  its  rich  and  varied  mineral 
resources,  and  revolutionize  its  industries  and  social  life,  it  will 
not  and  should  not  be  admitted  to  the  Union  as  a  sovereign 
State. 


1859.]          FKOM    TAGS    TO    DENVER,    COLORADO.  269 


CHAPTER    XXIII. 

FROM  Taos  to  Denver,  three  hundred  miles  due  north,  a  lonely 
mountain  trail  led  through  the  range  of  the  murderous  Utes. 
I  lingered,  hoping  to  find  companions  for  the  journey,  but  as 
winter  was  at  hand  no  one  was  starting  northward.  Miners  were 
daily  arriving  from  Denver  to  pass  the  cold  months  in  Mexico. 
Some  declared  the  trail  as  safe  as  Broadway.  Others  pronounced 
the  journey  madness,  and  its  inevitable  price  a  lost  scalp.  As  the 
Fort  Smith  fever  had  left  my  crown  bare,  taking  this  would  be  no 
easy  matter.  But  I  felt  like  the  Scotchman  about  his  head,  that 
while  '  nae  much  of  a '  scalp  it  would  be  *  a  sair  loss '  to  me. 
A  third  class  of  immigrants  had  no  apprehensions  about  the  sav 
ages,  but  laid  great  stress  upon  the  danger  of  perishing  among 
mountain  snows. 

Despairingly  I  appealed  to  Kit  Carson  as  final  authority.  He 
replied  with  a  smile  that  the  road,  always  perilous  to  a  stranger 
unfamiliar  with  Indian  warfare,  was  more  so  toward  winter  than 
during  the  warm  months.  Just  now  too  there  was  some  possible 
danger  from  the  Utes.  Still  if  I  deemed  the  trip  necessary  he 
had  little  doubt  that  I  could  make  it  successfully. 

I  bought  a  thin,  iron-gray  pony,  two  years  and  a  half  old,  so 
Liliputian  that  satirical  friends  advised  me  to  start  upon  a  rocking 
horse  instead.  Even  Carson  was  skeptical  of  the  little  brute's 
capacity.  My  own  confidence  was  serene,  based  upon  long  expe 
rience  with  the  hardy  creatures,  during  which  I  had  never  known 
one  to  die  from  overwork  or  any  other  cause.  The  entire  cost  of 
pony,  saddle,  bridle,  spurs  and  lariat  was  thirty-six  dollars. 

I.  On  the  twenty-fifth  of  October,  with  Liliput  almost  buried 
under  rider,  heavy  blanket  and  plethoric  saddle-bags,  I  bade 

18 


270  A    POLYGLOT    LANDLORD.  [1859. 

adieu  to  kind  friends  in  Taos,  and  galloped  away  toward  the  latest 
El  Dorado.  Carson  obligingly  accompanied  me  for  an  hour. 
Pointing  at  an  isolated  mountain,  a  dozen  miles  away  he  said ; 

'  Your  general  course  is  directly  toward  that  butte.' 

1  Shall  I  reach  it  to-night  T 

1  Hardly  !  I  see  you  have  not  learned  to  estimate  distances  in 
this  clear  atmosphere.  Next  time  we  meet,  remember  to  tell  me 
how  long  you  were  in  getting  to  it,' 

Soon  he  turned  homeward  and  I  was  sorry  to  lose  sight  of  his 
kind,  trust-inspiring  face. 

After  a  solitary  mountain  ride  of  twenty-eight  miles  I  dis 
mounted  at  Beaubean's  trading-post,  beside  a  rushing  transparent 
little  stream  bearing  the  name  Colorado,  so  frequent  in  Spanish 
nomenclature.  Beaubean  was  a  Frenchman  whom  long  inter 
course  with  this  mixed  population  had  converted  into  a  bewil 
dered  polyglot.  With  profuse  bows  and  in  a  medley  of  French, 
German,  Spanish,  English,  and  Indian,  he  begged  me  to  pardon  his 
poor  lodgings  and  his  fare  so  unfit  to  set  before  a  gentleman.  As 
a  sequel  to  this  preamble  he  gave  me  a  supper  of  mutton  and  eggs, 
the  best  meal  I  had  eaten  in  New  Mexico,  served  upon  snowy 
linen,  in  a  pleasant  room.  Then  through  the  long  evening  I 
lounged  in  a  luxurious  arm-chair,  reading  before  my  cheerful  fire 
with  many  glances  through  the  skeleton  window  at  tall  snow- 
crowned  mountains,  with  yawning  black  canyons  between. 

The  dirt  floor  was  smooth  and  hard.  The  mud  walls,  dressed 
with  a  trowel  and  whitewashed,  could  hardly  be  distinguished 
from  the  finest  plastering.  They  were  hung  with  pictures  of 
saints,  and  crucifixes,  curiously  intermingled  with  views  of  horse 
races  and  cock  fights.  The  mattress  upon  the  floor,  covered  with 
•fine  blankets  of  whitest  wool,  was  quite  luxurious.  That  after 
noon  in  a  wretched  hovel  across  the  narrow  street,  a  little  child 
had  fallen  info  the  fire  and  been  burned  to  death.  Now  shrieks 
and  moans  rending  the  air,  showed  that  in  one  dusky  bosom 
under  all  its  rags  and  wretchedness  the  mother-heart  was  beat 
ing. 

II.  Soon  after  sunrise  I  rode  on  among  scattered  -ranches  with 
valley-fields  of  corn  and  wheat.  Irrigation  makes  the  parched, 
sandy  soil  wonderfully  productive.  In  most  wheat-growing  States 


1859.]  BEFORE    THE    SUTLER'S    FIRE.  271 

a  yield  of  fifteen  fold  from  the  seed  is  an  excellent  crop.  But  this 
seeming  desert  often  produces  fifty  fold  and  sometimes  a  hundred 
fold.  It  is  not  adapted  to  Indian  corn  on  account  of  the  cold 
nights.  In  winter  farmers  do  not  feed  stock ;  the  cattle  subsist 
upon  a  wild  sage  so  tall  that  it  is  seldom  hidden  by  the  snow. 

Crossing  the  Costilla  (rib)  river  I  dined  at  the  trading-house  of 
Mr.  Posthoff,  a  German  resident  of  gentlemanly  manners  and 
liberal  culture,  with  whom  I  spent  an  agreeable  afternoon  and 
night. 

Near  by  was  a  Mexican  grist-mill — not  the  human  variety 
already  depicted  but  yet  almost  as  primitive.  It  is  simply  a  hori 
zontal  water-wheel  connected  by  an  upright  shaft  with  the  mill 
stone  one  story  above.  The  stone,  revolving  no  faster  than  the 
wheel,  grinds  but  slowly,  and  having  no  bolting  apparatus  turns 
out  very  coarse  flour.  There  are  a  few  improved  steam  mills  in 
the  Territory.  Day's  travel  twenty-one  miles. 

III.  My  morning  route  over  the  desert  abounded  in  wild  sage, 
cactus,  and  great  herds  of  antelopes.  At  noon  as  usual  I  broiled 
a  bit  of  pork  upon  a  long  stick  by  my  little  camp-fire,  and  made 
tea  in  my  drinking  cup.  Liliput  found  excellent  grazing  on  the 
banks  of  the  Culebra  (snake)  creek.  The  afternoon  ride  was  de 
lightful — among  grand  old  mountains  with  ever  shifting  colors, 
water  worn  sides  and  whitened  crests — a 

4  Lapse  into  the  glad  release 
Of  Nature's  own,  exceeding  peace.' 

At  last  from  a  hill-top,  I  had  a  dim  shadow-like  view  of  Fort 
Garland  far  below,  its  adobe  walls  dotting  the  fair  valley  of  a 
creek  fringed  with  cotton  woods,  and  the  Stars  and  Stripes  floating 
over  it.  Late  in  the  cold  evening  I  reached  it,  after  a  day's 
journey  of  thirty-three  miles. 

The  post-sutler  Mr.  Francisco  was  far-famed  for  his  hospitality. 
Around  his  cheerful  fire  I  found  several  gentlemen  who  brought 
the  latest  word  of  old  comrades  and  new  mines  in  the  gold  region. 
One  told  me  that  of  seven  intimate  friends  who  resided  in  Santa 
Fe  fourteen  years  before,  he  was  now  the  only  survivor.  All  the 
rest  had  been  killed  by  Indians  or  in  drunken  affrays. 


272  OUT-DOOR    MOUNTAIN    LODGINGS.  [1859. 

IY.  This  morning  I  reached  the  mountain  which  Carson  had 
pointed  out  to  me  from  Taos,  the  distance  having  proved  three 
days'  journey,  or  more  than  a  hundred  miles.  Here  my  course 
turned  eastward  through  the  Sangre  de  Christo  (blood  of  Christ) 
canyon,  leading  from  the  waters  of  the  Rio  Grande  to  those  of 
the  Arkansas.  Its  tall  upright  walls  are  worn  by  streams  pouring 
down  their  sides,  and  streaked  with  elk  paths. 

The  trail  crossed  the  little  creek  a  dozen  times  in  a  single  mile, 
and  soon  left  it  to  follow  another  stream.  Liliput  climbed  the 
steady  ascent  but  slowly,  for  at  that  great  altitude  the  atmosphere 
is  thin,  makes  breathing  difficult,  and  compels  both  bipeds  and 
quadrupeds  to  pause  frequently. 

As  night  approached  the  air  grew  nipping  and  eager.  I  had 
trusted  to  luck  for  a  camping  place,  and  was  nearly  a  day's  travel 
from  human  habitation.  But  just  before  sundown  I  overtook  two 
young  adventurers  with  an  ox  team  and  a  load  of  wheat.  Despite 
their  rough  attire  and  sun-browned  faces,  the  moment  they  spoke, 
they  betrayed  Yankee  origin  and  they  proved  to  be  natives  of 
Medfield,  Massachusetts.  Gladly  I  accepted  their  hearty  invita 
tion  to  lodge  with  them. 

We  climbed  wearily  a  long  sharp  hill  and  stood  upon  the 
summit  of  a  high  divide.  Behind  us,  within  pistol  shot,  were 
streams  running  into  the  Rio  Grande  del  Norte,  which  rises  among 
the  eternal  snows  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  and  continues  its 
sinuous  course  to  the  tropical  waters  of  the  gulf.  Before  us 
were  springs  which  feed  the  Arkansas ;  and  far  to  the  east  over 
hill  and  dale,  forest  and  desert,  we  could  discern  its  wooded  valley 
sixty  miles  away. 

The  scenery  was  inspiring,  but  the  cold  and  approaching  dark 
ness  were  not.  Descending  a  long  terraced  hill,  we  halted  for  the 
night.  The  wayworn  animals  were  turned  loose  to  graze ;  supper 
was  cooked  and  eaten  by  a  log  fire ;  after  a  long  chat,  our  couch 
was  extemporized  in  the  open  air  by  spreading  a  blanket  upon  the 
frozen  ground,  and  we  huddled  close  under  a  buffalo  robe,  without 
even  a  tree  overhead. 

The  scene  recalled  Captain  John  Smith  and  his  men  out  on  their 
Indian  scout  in  mid-winter.  '  The  night  was  cold  and  dismal ;  but,' 
says  the  stanch  old  leader,  (  we  drank  our  gill  of  rum  each,  and 


1859.] 


MEETING    A    PLUCKY    PEDESTRIAN. 


273 


having  thanked  God,  slept  soundly,  though  surrounded  by  mani 
fold  dangers.' 

As  the  guest,  my  new  companions  had  placed  me  in  the  middle 
where  the  temperature  was  endurable ;  though  whether  sleeping  or 
waking  I  had  a  dim  consciousness  of  cold.  They  found  it  in 
tolerable,  and  often  arose  to  warm  themselves  by  the  fire. 

Y.  Soon  after  sunrise  I  bade  them  adieu  and  was  again  on  the 
road.  The  first  creek  I  crossed,  though  running  water,  was  frozen 
so  hard  that  it  bore  pony  and  rider,  and  gave  me  new  appreciation 
of  the  intense  cold  of  the  night. 

Thus  far  I  had  not  forgotten  the  alleged  danger  of  this  solitary 
journey,  and  had  plumed  myself  a  little  upon  facing  it.  But  now  I 
met  a  miner  from  Pike's  Peak  coming  on  foot  over  the  same  route 
and  bearing  upon  his  shoulders  his  blankets,  provisions,  frying- 
pan,  ax  and  rifle.  Oar  brief 
exchange  of  greetings  showed 
that  he  regarded  the  journey  as 
a  mere  pleasure  excursion  and 
it  made  me  a  little  ashamed 
of  myself. 

Through  tke  day,  the  moun 
tain  scenery  was  varied  and 
picturesque.  After  nightfall  I 
reached  Maxwell's  ranch  on  the 
Greenhorn  river.  Ever  since 
starting,  I  had  anticipated  here  an 
agreeable  and  luxurious  resting 
place.  Maxwell  had  thousands 
of  sheep  and  cattle,  and  his 
dwelling  (the  only  one  within 
sixty  miles)  was  eagerly  looked 
forward  to  by  every  traveler. 
To  my  sore  disappointment  I 
found  that  only  the  day  previous 

he  had  removed  his  cattle  and  men  to  a  distant  ranch,  leaving 
no  soul  here  save  one  villainous-looking  Mexican.  This  unpre 
possessing  host  wore  a  tattered  hat,  woolen  shirt,  buckskin 
breeches  and  moccasins;  and  his  black  matted  hair  shaded  a  face 


MY  RUEFUL   MEXICAN   HOST. 


274         AN    UNPLEASANT    SLEEPING    COMPANION.    [1859. 

which  would  have  hanged  him  before  any  intelligent  jury.  But 
he  was  the  very  pink  of  courtesy  offering  hospitality  in  bastard 
Spanish  with  unceasing  genuflections  of  welcome — 

'  Washing  his  hands  with  invisible  soap, 
In  imperceptible  water ' — 

clearly  the  only  soap  and  water  with  which  his  person  was  familiar. 

I  tied  Liliput  in  a  ruinous  out-building  and  gladdened  his  faith 
ful  heart  with  corn.  The  dwelling  had  a  rough  dirt-floor  and 
was  pierced  with  holes  in  lieu  of  doors  and  windows.  Through 
great  gaps  in  the  roof  I  saw  the  deep  blue  sky  and  the  twinkling 
stars.  But  a  cheerful  blaze  glowed  in  the  spacious  fire-place,  and 
mine  host  of  the  rueful  countenance  prepared  a  capital  supper  of 
broiled  venison,  biscuit,  and  coffee.  Obsequiously  declining  my 
invitation  to  join  me  at  the  meal,  and  vowing  that  he  would  ne'er 
consent,  he  not  only  consented  but  did  ample  justice  to  his  own 
cooking. 

Spreading  my  blankets  in  one  corner  and  directing  him  to  make 
his  bed  in  another,  I  lay  down  with  one  hand  ostentatiously  resting 
upon  the  revolver  under  my  pillow.  My  clothing  had  become 
ludicrously  ragged.  I  had  carefully  concealed  my  watch ;  and 
marvelous  indeed  must  have  been  the  cupidity  which  that  ward 
robe,  steed,  or  equipments  could  excite.  But  I  had  been  told  again 
and  again  that  an  ignorant  Mexican  would  kill  a  man  any  day  for 
ten  dollars ;  and  if  this  peon  was  not  a  cut-throat  his  face  would 
have  justified  a  suit  against  Nature  for  libel.  Studying  it  drowsily 
by  the  flickering  light  of  the  log  fire  I  fell  asleep. 

VI.  Gibbon  records  that  during  the  reign  of  a  bloody  tyrant 
a  young  Persian  nobleman  was  wont  to  say : 

'  I  never  leave  the  sultan's  presence  without  first  ascertaining 
whether  my  head  still  rests  upon  my  shoulders.' 

Waking  at  three  o'clock  I  instinctively  imitated  his  example. 
But  the  jugular  veins  still  continued  perfect  and  the  Mexican  slept 
soundly  under  his  sheep  skin,  until  aroused  to  cook  breakfast  and 
feed  Liliput  for  a  hard  day's  journey. 

Overwhelming  me  with  thanks  for  a  pecuniary  acknowledg 
ment  of  his  hospitality,  he  uttered  a  vehement  'Adios,  Senor;1  and 
I  was  on  the  road  while  the  stars  were  yet  shining. 


1859.]  A    HERD    OF    SPOTTED    ANTELOPES.  275 

Upon  a  mountainous  desert  I  crossed  the  imaginary  line  which 
then  bounded  New  Mexico  on  the  north.  Later,  when  Colorado 
Territory  was  organized  it  took  a  slice  from  the  northern  border, 
and  also  included  portions  of  Kansas,  Nebraska,  and  Utah. 

Before  noon  I  descended  into  the  broad  rich  valley  of  the 
Arkansas.  Here  the  stream  is  a  hundred  yards  wide,  shaded  with 
a  narrow  belt  of  tall  cottonwoods,  and  its  banks  covered  with 
waving  grass.  The  river  was  like  an  old  friend.  I  had  journeyed 
sixteen  hundred  miles  since  leaving  it  at  Fort  Smith,  eight  hun 
dred  miles  nearer  the  Mississippi,  many  weeks  before. 

Turning  out  Liliput  for  a  grassy  feast,  I  dined  with  the  con 
ductor  of  a  Mexican  flour  train  for  Denver,  a  Maine  Yankee  who 
for  twenty  years  had  been  roaming  over  the  world  by  sea  and 
land.  Soon  after,  I  struck  the  Fontaine  qui  Bouille  creek,  and 
followed  up  its  bank  during  the  whole  afternoon. 

Spent  the  night  at  a  pleasant  ranch  kept  by  an  intelligent  Ameii- 
can  family.  It  was  homelike  once  more  to  be  under  a  civ'lized 
roof  and  to  encounter,  for  the  first  time  during  a  journey  of  a. 
thousand  miles,  women  who  spoke  English.  One  of  the  ladies 
had  been  my  neighbor  in  Kansas ;  but  long  roving  had  disguised 
me  so  eifectually  that  for  the  first  half  hour  she  failed  to  recognize 
me.  Day's  travel  forty -four  miles. 

VII.  Journeyed  up  the  Fontaine  qui  Bouille  directly  toward 
Pike's  Peak,  which,  with  its  dark,  wooded  sides,  and  irregular 
turreted  summit,  towers  far  above  all  adjacent  mountains. 

Plump  antelopes  abounded,  so  tame  that  when  I  stopped  my 
pony  a  long  herd  of  one  hundred  and  twenty-seven  in  single  file 
crossed  the  path  before  me,  within  a  stone's  throw.  Some  were 
beautifully  spotted  and  all  exquisitely  graceful. 

Just  before  dark  in  the  gigantic  shadow  of  Pike's  Peak,  I  reached 
a  little  sign-board  labeled  in  bold  capitals  *  COLORADO  AVENUE.' 
I  had  not  seen  a  human  being  since  morning,  and  the  idea  of  a 
city  in  these  solitudes  savored  of  the  ludicrous ;  but  there  it  stood, 
unmistakable  evidence  of  civilization  and  speculation. 

A  mile  beyond,  passing  around  an  intervening  hill,  I  reached 
Colorado  City,  founded  a  few  weeks  before,  and  containing  fifteen 
or  twenty  log-cabins.  In  front  of  one  stood  an  old  Kansas  friend, 
who  came  inquiringly  forward  and  at  last  penetrating  my  panoply 


276 


OFFEEINGS    TO    AN   INVISIBLE    DEITY. 


[1859. 


of  dirt  and  rags  gave  me  heartiest  greeting.     Day's  travel  thirty- 

five  miles. 

VIII.  A  morning  visit  to  the    curious  Fontaine  qui  Bouille, 

(fountains  which  boil,) 
two  miles  from  Colo 
rado  City,  at  the  head 
of  the  creek  I  had  fol 
lowed  up  since  leav 
ing  the  Arkansas. 
The  three  fountains, 
bubbling  up  from  the 
ground  and  not  boil 
ing  with  heat,  are 
very  strongly  impreg 
nated  with  soda. 
One,  whose  basin  is 


FIRST    VIEW    OF   COLORADO   CITY. 


three  feet  in  diameter, 
seems  to  rise  from  the  midst  of  a  great  rock  which  it  has  incrusted 
with  soda  to  the  thickness  of  several  inches.  A  column  of  water 
nearly  as  large  as  the  body  of  a  man  gushes  up  with  great  force. 
The  supplying  channel  must  be  far  under  ground ;  for  between 
this  and  one  of  the  other  fountains  runs  a  fresh  water  creek  twenty 
feet  below  their  level. 

The  Indians  regard  these  springs  with  awe  and  reverence. 
They  believe  that  an  angel  or  rather  a  spirit  troubles  the  waters 
and  causes  the  bubbling  by  breathing  in  them.  Before  going  on 
war  expeditions  the  Arapahoes  formerly  threw  beads  and  knives 
into  the  fountain,  and  hung  the  adjacent  trees  with  deer-skins  and 
quivers  as  propitiatory  offerings  to  the  invisible  deity.  The  Colo- 
radoans  mixed  their  flour  in  this  water  without  adding  soda  or 
saleratus,  and  it  made  the  lightest  and  best  of  bread.  Mingled 
with  tartaric  acid  and  lemon-juice,  the  water  foams  like  champagne, 
and  is  more  palatable  than  ithat  from  any  artificial  soda  fountain. 

It  is  said  to  possess  rare  -medicinal  qualites.  The  railroad  will 
make  the  springs  a  popular  summer  resort.  The  vicinity  combines 
more  objects  of  interest  and  grandeur  than  any  other  spot  on  the 
continent :  Pike's  Peak,  the  great  :Bouth  Park,  the  Garden  of  the 
Gods  and  the  Fontaine  qui  Bouille. 


1859.] 


ANOTHER    OLD    FEIEND. 


277 


Pressing  onward  toward  Denver,   I   found   still   another  old 
Kansas  friend  lunching  upon  the  prairie  under  the  shade  of  his 
wagon.      After  he 
identified   me,    we 
broke     bread     to 
gether    and     then 
fought  our  battles 
o'er  again. 

In  the  afternoon 
I  crossed  the  high 
divide  between  the 
shining  waters  of 
the  Arkansas  and 
those  of  the  Platte 
— an  ascent  so 
gentle  that  with  the 
exception  of  two 
or  three  short  hills, 
it  is  hardly  percept 
ible.  At  night  I 
came  to  a  road-side 

fire  beside  an  ample  fered  me  lodg- 

tent  whose  solitary      «^iSK2SSifiSS§fi  ™gs  5  f°r  nos' 

sleeper  rubbing  his  THE  FONTAINE  QUI  BOUILLE.  pitality  is  pre- 
eyes,  cordially  of-  eminently  a 

frontier  virtue,  and  every  stranger  is  tendered  food  and  shelter.  My 
host  was  of  a  hunting  party,  and  his  two  companions  were  seeking 
their  stray  horses.  I  turned  Liliput — now  foot-sore  from  his  long 
journey — out  to  graze ;  and,  thanks  to  the  kindness  of  Colorado 
friends,  who  had  stuffed  my  pockets  with  venison,  was  able  to 
prepare  an  ample  supper  by  the  roaring  fire.  Then  stretching 
upon  the  ground  with  saddle  for  a  pillow,  slept  soundly  after  a 
day's  journey  of  fifty  miles. 

IX.  At  sunrise  I  was  again  upon  the  road.  Soon  after,  from 
the  summit  of  a  hill  I  could  see  Denver  distinctly,  though  it  was 
more  than  twenty  miles  distant.  A  lady  upon  a  spirited  horse 
overtook  me  and  accompanied  me  into  the  city.  From  visiting  a 
sister  at  a  saw-mill  in  the  deep  pineries  she  was  returning  home,  a 


278        CLIMATE    AND    P  U  LMONAfc  Y    COMPLAINTS.      [1859, 

morning  ride  of  twenty-five  miles.  Buddy  cheeks  and  a 
symmetrical  form  had  rewarded  her  fondness  for  this  health-inspir 
ing  exercise. 

Descending  easy  hills  over  a  sand  soil  we  reached  the  Platte 
valley,  for  miles  trenched  and  gullied  by  miners,  some  still  hard 
at  work,  and  realizing  five  dollars  per  day  to  the  man. 

Passing  many  rude  shanties  for  the  sale  of  whisky  and  tobacco, 
along  the  well-trodden  road,  soon  after  noon  we  galloped  into 
Denver.  Here  ended  my  mountain  journey,  the  most  enjoyable 
trip  I  had  ever  made.  It  removed  the  last  vestiges  of  my  Fort 
Smith  illness.  The  whole  desert  and  mountain  region  from  the 
British  Possessions  to  New  Mexico,  and  westward  to  the  Pacific, 
is  one  of  the  healthiest  in  the  world.  Rains  fall  only  from  July 
to  September ;  the  air  is  so  dry  that  fresh  meat  cut  in  strips  in 
summer,  and  quarters  in  winter,  and  hung  up,  will  cure  without 
smoking  or  salting,  so  that  it  may  be  carried  to  any  part  of  the 
globe.  In  such  an  air  lung  and  throat  complaints  have  no  chance. 
I  have  known  persons  supposed  to  be  hopelessly  consumptive,  and 
only  able  to  travel  lying  upon  feather  beds  in  ox  wagons,  who 
after  crossing  the  plains  and  sleeping  in  the  open  air,  enjoyed  for 
years  a  comfortable  degree  of  health.  Recent  experience  shows  the 
folly  of  sending  consumptive  patients  to  the  tropics.  Dry  regions, 
as  far  as  possible  from  the  salt  water,  and  an  invigorating  air,  are 
precisely  what  is  needed.  Probably  the  most  favorable  climate  on 
all  our  continent  is  the  interior  of  California,  and  the  next,  Minne 
sota.  Nebraska,  Kansas  and  the  Indian  Territory  are  also  excellent, 
as  indeed  is  every  State  between  the  Mississippi  and  the  Pacific. 

Along  the  entire  route  I  had  now  followed — in  Missouri, 
Arkansas,  the  Indian  Territory,  Texas,  and  even  New  Mexico — 
occurred  frequent  battles  or  skirmishes  a  few  years  later,  during 
the  great  rebellion.  How  vast  was  the  war,  which  along  the  wide 
track  between  the  Susquehanna  and  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  swept 
from  the  Atlantic  seaboard  to  the  base  of  the  Rocky  mountains ! 

Dismounting  in  Denver  I  encountered  my  old  comrade  Lewis  N. 
Tappan,  who  supplemented  his  cordial  greeting  with  the  remark  : 

;  I  have  met  a  good  many  rough -looking  customers  on  the  plains 
and  among  the  mountains,  but  you  eclipse  them  all,  and  would 
lempt  any  '  old  cloV  man  to  carry  you  off  bodily.' 


1859.] 


A    REPORT    OF    JOHN    BROWN. 


279 


I  had  long  been  beyond  the  reach  of  mails  and  eagerly  asked 
the  news.     He  replied : 

1  Old  John  Brown  "has  just  attempted  to  excite  a  slave  insurrec 
tion  at  Harper's  Ferry ; 
several  of  his  followers 
are  killed,  and  lie  is  in 
jail  awaiting  trial.  Our 
friends  fear  that  his  mad 
movement  will  defeat  the 
republican  ticket  in  the 
fall  elections.' 

1  certainly  shared  in 
the  fear.  'Heroism  is  very 
homely  work  in  the 
doing,'  and  immortal 
deeds  look  prosaic  and 
foolhardy  to  the  mole- 
eyed  worldly  wisdom  of 
to-day. 

Denver  had  developed 
wonderfully  during  the 
four  months  of  my 
absence.  Frame  and 
brick  edifices  were  dis 
placing  mud-roofed  log-cabins.  Two  theaters  were  in  full  blast ; 
and  at  first  glance  I  could  recognize  only  two  buildings.  When  I 
left  there  was  no  uncoined  gold  in  circulation ;  now  it  was  the 
only  currency — incontestable  evidence  that  the  mines  were  a  fact. 
Upon  every  counter  stood  little  scales,  and  whenever  one  made 
a  purchase,  whether  to  the  amount  of  ten  cents  or  a  thousand 
dollars,  he  produced  a  buckskin  pouch  of  gold  dust  and  poured 
out  the  amount  for  weighing. 

The  population  was  improving,  for  more  families  had  settled 
here,  but  gambling  and  dissipation  were  still  universal.  Nearly 
all  liquors  were  '  doctored '  and  excited  far  more  recklessness  and 
malignity  than  pure  whisky  or  brandy  would  have  done. 

The  waggish  superintendent  of  the  overland  mail  caught  an 
intoxicated  emigrant  riding  away  one  of  his  mules ;  but  instead  of 


THE   AUTHOR   ARRIVES   IN    DENVER. 


280  END    OF    SUMM'ER    JOURNEYINGS.  [1859. 

having  him  lynched,  boarded  the  offender  gratuitously  for  a  day 
or  two  and  turned  him  scot  free,  on  the  ground  that  the  whisky 
sold  in  Denver  would  make  any  man  steal. 

4  Praise  the  bridge  which  carries  you  safely  over.'  In  spite  of 
Kit  Carson's  incredulity,  Liliput  had  brought  me  three  hundred 
miles  in  seven  and-a-half  days'  travel.  He  reached  Denver  with 
tender  feet,  galled  back  and  a  spot  on  each  flank  as  large  as  my 
hand,  made  raw  by  the  spur ;  for  his  many  virtues  were  tempered 
by  the  vice  of  laziness.  Still  I  disposed  of  steed  and  equipments 
at  a  sum  which  reduced  the  cost  of  the  trip  to  precisely  thirteen 
dollars.  Liliput,  placed  in  a  ranch  soon  grew  fat,  and  the  next 
spring  sold  for  a  hundred  and  twenty-five  dollars. 

On  the  tenth  of  November  I  left  Denver  by  express  for  Leaven- 
worth.  *  We  started  in  warm  weather,  when  coats  were  super 
fluous  in  the  middle  of  the  day ;  but  twenty-four  hours  out,  the 
thermometer  suddenly  dropped  to  two  degrees  below  zero.  Our 
conductor  froze  his  face,  our  driver  his  ears,  and  during  the  night 
even  mules  were  frozen  upon  the  prairie.  We  rode  until  one 
o'clock,  A.  M.,  suffering  much  but  constantly  bestirring  ourselves 
to  guard  against  the  last  deadly  stupor.  At  last  we  were  relieved 
by  reaching  a  station,  where,  with  as  many  other  wayfarers  as 
could  be  packed  into  the  little  building,  we  slept  until  daylight. 

The  weather  soon  moderated,  and  on  the  sixteenth  of  Novem 
ber,  after  having  journeyed  twenty-five  hundred  miles  in  stages 
and  on  horseback  since  the  seventeenth  of  August,  I  once  more 
reached  the  metropolis  of  Kansas. 


I860.]  A    NIGHT    WITH    A    SQUATTER.  281 


CHAPTER    XXIV. 

IN  May,  1860,  with  my  friend  Thomas  "W.  Knox,  I  returned  to 
the  border.  First  we  made  a  pedestrian  tour  of  two  hundred 
rniles  through  the  interior  of  Kansas.  In  this  initial  experience 
of  pioneer  life,  my  comrade  learned  how  truly  '  the  stomach  is  the 
great  laboratory  of  disaffection  whether  in  camp  or  capital.'  The 
first  evening,  foot-sore  and  wayworn,  we  began  to  think  of  lodg 
ings  for  the  night.  A  neat  little  log-house,  with  well  and  orchard 
in  front,  and  several  improved  farming  implements  beside  it, 
allured  us. 

'  This  settler,'  said  I  oracularly,  *  is  a  gentleman  of  taste.  These 
indications,  to  an  old  traveler,  give  unfailing  promise  of  whole 
some  fare,  agreeable  society,  and  excellent  accommodations.  Here 
will  we  spend  the  night,  and  go  forth  on  the  morrow,  refreshed, 
rejuvenated,  and  at  peace  with  all  the  world.' 

The  squatter,  a  Missourian  of  the  Methodist  persuasion,  whose 
great  prairie  of  face  was  fringed  with  a  dense,  untrimmed  forest 
of  hair,  received  us  kindly,  and  *  reckoned '  he  might  accommo 
date  us,  could  we  put  up  with  his  indifferent  fare.  Here  was 
modesty,  the  sure  precursor  of  good  things  to  come.  The  inevi 
table  tow-headed  children  greeted  us  with  their  pleasant  infant 
familiarities.  The  hostess,  young  and  not  uncqmely,  but  of  that 
unmistakably  coarse  fiber  which  a  diet  of  pork  and  hominy  im 
parts,  retired  to  the  kitchen  to  prepare  supper.  Time  dragged, 
for  the  prairies  had  given  us  voracious  appetites ;  but  the  long 
delay  suggested  proportionately  splendid  results.  Just  as  the 
clock  struck  nine  we  crossed  our  legs  under  the  festive  cotton- 
wood. 

Alas,  for  human  hopes !     The  coffee  was  like  a  pool  of  yellow 


282  KILLED    IN    THE    DARKNESS.  [1860. 

soap  suds*  The  conglomerate  substance  by  courtesy  called  butter 
was  rank  and  smelled  to  heaven.  The  ham  was  strong  enough 
to  perform  the  labors  of  Hercules.  The  English  language  affords 
no  vituperative  epithet  which  can  do  justice  to  the  corn  bread. 
Despairingly,  we  called  for  sweet  milk.  Doubtless  it  had  been 
sweet  at  some  previous  stage,  but  the  period  was  far  remote.  Not 
a  dish  was  palatable ;  the  trail  of  the  serpent  was  over  them  all. 

In  utter  disappointment  we  left  the  table,  sat  for  a  while  in 
ominous  silence,  and  went  to  bed,  a  morose  and  melancholy  pair. 
But  our  sufferings  had  only  begun.  The  couch  was  in  the  posses 
sion  of  insectile  inhabitants,  wjio  resented  our  invasion  of  their 
premises,  in  the  most  aggressive  and  bloodthirsty  manner.  The 
reader  shall  be  spared  the  bristling  terrors  of  that  memorable 
night.  It  combined  the  horrors  of  a  prize-fight  with  being 
buried  alive. 

In  the  morning  we  assisted  at  the  farce  of  breakfast,  disbursed 
nine  shillings  for  what  by  a  hideous  satire  was  called  our  '  enter 
tainment,'  and  departed  with  unspoken  maledictions  upon  our 
host.  Of  all  the  Kansas  frauds  which  had  come  within  my  knowl 
edge,  he  Was  the  most  glaring  and  aggravated. 

Fifteen  miles  beyond,  we  dined  at  Franklin,  where  the  tavern 
walls  still  contained  scores  of  bullets  received  during  its  siege  and 
capture  in  1856.  A  friend,  one  of  the  attacking  Free  State  men, 
while  lying  in  the  grass  and  firing  his  rifle  spoke  to  a  comrade 
immediately  beside  him.  There  was  no  answer.  Putting  out  his 
hand  in  the  darkness  it  struck  a  motionless  head,  the  hair  dripping 
with  warm  blood.  His  companion  lying  within  two  feet  had  ut 
tered  no  sound  when  he  received  the  death-wound,  which  was 
ghastly  and  gaping,  for  the  spiral  motion  of  the  modern  rifle  bullet 
makes  its  aperture  three  times  as  large  as  the  ball  itself. 

"Near  Grasshopper  Falls  one  fine  farm  of  six  hundred  acres  and 
another  of  nine  hundred  showed  us  that  the  wilderness  was  already 
being  subdued.  At  Holton  we  stopped  to  chat  with  an  old  pro- 
slavery  settler  whose  cjieek  was  enormously  distended  from  a  rifle 
shot,  the  result  of  an  attempt  by  himself  and  several  companions 
to  break  up  a  republican  convention. 

At  the  lonely  log-cabin  where  we  spent  the  night,  in  the  winter 
of  1857-8,  old  John  Brown  with  twelve  fugitive  slaves  whom  he 


I860.]      REMINISCENCES    OF    OLD    JOHN    BROWN. 


283 


was  conducting  to  Canada  had  waited  four  days  for  the  creek  to 
fall.  Stephens  and  Whipple  were  his  only  white  companions. 
Six  men  from  Lecompton  came  prowling  suspiciously  about,  when 
Stephens  went  out  and  asked : 


PORTRAIT  OF  JOHN  BROWN. 

1  What  are  you  looking  for  V 

1  Six  fugitive  slaves/ 

1  Well  gentlemen  we  have  not  got  your  negroes,  but  we  have 
twelve  others  up  at  the  house.  Come  and  see  them.' 

This  invitation  was  accompanied  by  the  click  of  his  cocking 
rifle.  The  Lecomptonites  were  armed  to  the  teeth,  but  five  wheeled 
their  horses  and  fled  while  the  sixth  at  whom  the  rifle  was  pointed 
tremblingly  remained.  Stephens  made  him  dismount,  give  up  his 
arms  and  follow  him  to  the  dwelling: 


284:  YANKEES,    MISSOUKIANS    AND    'CRICKS.7      [1860. 

*  Mr.  Brown,  this  man  came  here  hunting  negroes ;  do  what  you 
please  with  him.' 

After  searching  him  for  concealed  weapons  Brown  took  a  rope 
from  his  pocket,  tied  the  prisoner's  hands  and  feet,  and  then  re 
quested  him  to  take  a  seat.  He  kept  him  confined  four  days 
reasoning  with  him  about  slavery  and  the  wickedness  of  negro 
hunting.  When  set  at  liberty  the  discomfited  foe  seemed  thor 
oughly  converted,  and  manifested  genuine  regard  for  the  wonder 
ful  old  man. 

Here  came  the  United  States  marshal  with  a  posse  of  thirty,  to 
arrest  Brown's  party.  The  three  dauntless  pilots  waited  at  the 
windows  with  leveled  rifles  to  receive  them,  and  Stephens  called 
out  cheerfully : 

1  Come  qn  gentlemen ;  we  are  ready  whenever  you  are.' 

Their  proverbial  daring  was  terrible  as  an  army  with  banners. 
The  negro  hunters  were  fully  persuaded  that  dwellings,  out-build 
ings,  and  hay  lofts  swarmed  with  fighting  men.  So  they  left 
without  firing  a  gun ;  and  when  the  creek  fell  the  negroes  con 
tinued  on  unmolested  toward  the  North  Star.  All  which  our  host 
related  by  his  evening  fireside.  At  breakfast  he  devoutly  asked 
a  blessing  upon  the  meal,  and  a  few  minutes  later  coolly  re 
marked  : 

'I  should  not  be  sorry  to  see  the  troubles  break  out  again.  I 
know  of  a  few  scoundrels  who  have  harrassed  Free  State  men 
beyond  all  endurance,  and  who  ought  to  be  killed.  But  of  course 
we  don't  want  to  shoot  them  unless  they  give  us  due  provoca 
tion.' 

When  we  parted  he  said : 

1  Keep  this  road  north  for  two  miles,  and  then  take  the  one 
leading  eastward.' 

This  alone  would  have  revealed  the  Yankee.  Missourians 
never  gave  the  point  of  compass  but  only  directed  the  traveler  to 
'  Follow  up  the  crick  for  two  miles  and  then  cross  over  to  the  next 
crick.'  In  the  belts  of  timber  along  streams  they  invariably 
settled,  while  northerners  made  their  homes  upon  high  open 
prairie.  The  ;  crick'  lands  were  prolific  of  fever-and-ague  and 
democratic  voters. 

The  Missourians  were  accustomed  to  letting  their  -swine  run  at 


I860.]  A   LETTER    FROM    JOHN  BROWN. 


285 


286  ONE  OF  JOHN  BROWN'S  FOLLOWERS.       [1860. 

large.  In  Brown  county  we  found  one  intensely  disgusted, 
because  the  voters  of  his  township  had  decided  that  the  animals 
must  be  shut  up  to  save  fencing-in  the  grain  and  potatoes.  He 
complained : 

'I  don't  mind  so  much  getting  along  without  negroes;  but  next 
year  I  will  move  out  of  this  d — d  Yankee  neighborhood  where 
a  man  is  compelled  to  shut  up  his  hogs.' 

The  death  of  John  Brown  on  a  Virginia  gibbet  had  already 
canonized  him.  Almost  every  Free  State  settler  gave  some 
reminiscences  of  the  stanch  old  martyr.  Among  his  enthusiastic 
followers  was  young  Kagi,  very  modest  and  quiet,  a  correspondent 
of  the  New  York  Evening  Post  He  had  criticised  a  United  States 
district  judge  of  Buchanan's  appointment.  Soon  after,  when  he 
chanced  to  enter  the  temple  of  justice,  the  court  adjourned,  and 
several  official  desperadoes  attacked  him  with  revolvers.  Like 
most  quiet  men,  when  excited  he  proved  an  ugly  customer.  He 
answered  their  shots  with  great  promptness,  giving  the  judge  a 
wound  so  serious  that  it  made  him  helpless  for  months.  When 
his  revolver  barrels  were  emptied,  Kagi  jumped  out  of  a  window 
and  escaped  unharmed.  He  finally  fell  pierced  by  .scores  of 
bullets,  on  the  bridge  at  Harper's  Ferry. 

Nominally,  slavery  still  existed.  In  Atchison  county  I  found 
some  old  southern  neighbors  greatly  exercised  over  the  loss  of 
their  chattels.  One  African,  up  to  the  night  of  his  flight, 
expressed  many  fears  that  the  Abolitionists  might  catch  and  kill 
him !  The  incredible  depravity  of  another,  a  favorite  house-maid 
was  "thus  set  forth  by  her  owner : 

1  Why  the  ungrateful  hussy !  Only  the  week  before  she  ran 
away  I  offered  her  herself  for  twelve  hundred  dollars,  with  the 
-privilege  of  paying  by  installments  tool' 

'Mary  Ann,'  added  the  really  kind-hearted  mistress,  <  was 
raised  like  one  of  the  family.  I  took  care  of  her  when  she  was  a 
baby,  and  always  dressed  and  treated  her  well  Many  and  many 
a  time  she  attended  me  when  I  was  sick,  lifting  and  moving  me 
as  though  I  was  a  child.  She  was  a  good  girl,  and  I  never 
counted  the  money  before  giving  her  my  purse  to  buy  any  thing. 
Poor  thing !  I  reckon  she  has  hard  masters  now.  Perhaps  they 
have  dashed  her  brains  out  already.  I  know  she  would  not  have 


I860.]  AN    EXTINGUISHING    RETORT.  287 

left  me  of  her  own  accord;  the  Abolitionists  mast  have  stolen 
her.' 

In  Atchison  county,  the  republican  party  had  nominated  John 
J.  Ingalls,  a  young  gentleman  from  Massachusetts,  for  the 
Wyandotte  constitutional  convention.  At  a  democratic  meeting 
John  W.  Stringfellow,  forgetful  that  Border  Ruffian  days  were 
over,  spoke  of  the  Yankee  with  traditional  contempt : 

Who  knew  any  thing  about  this  young  man  ?  How  old  was 
he  ?  How  long  had  he  lived  in  the  Territory  ? 

The  next  evening,  with  Stringfellow  sitting  prominently  beside 
him,  Ingalls  repaid  the  debt  with  usurious  interest.  He  had  been 
charged  with  two  heinous  crimes :  short  residence  in  Kansas,  and 
personal  obscurity.  He  could  not  deny  the  first,  but  only  urged 
that  it  was  an  offense  of  which  most  citizens  had  once  been  guilty, 
and  one  which  time m usually  cured.  He  added-: 

*  The  allegation  of  obscurity  is  yet  more  aggravated  and  fearful. 
Mr.  President,  most  men  are  obscure  once  in  a  lifetime.  Some 
always  remain  in  that  obscurity.  Others  emerge  from  it  to  an 
infamous  notoriety,  compared  with  which  obscurity  were  the 
kindest  gift  that  charity  could  bestow!' 

This  extinguishing  retort  elicited  roars  of  applause,  and  shoots 
of  *  Stringfellow,'  '  Stringfellow,'  which  finally  drove  him  dis 
comfited  from  the  stage.  Ingalls  was  triumphantly  elected. 

On  the  nineteenth  of  May,  Knox  and  myself  left  Atchison  in 
the  two-horse  wagon  of  a  pioneer,  who  had  contracted  to  board  us 
on  the  way  and  deliver  us  in  Denver  for  forty  dollars  each.' 
The  swift  mail  coach  was  the  aristocratic  mode :  the  horse  wagon 

7         •  O 

the  respectable;  and  the  ox- wagon,  known  as  the  'ox  telegraph'  or 
'prairie-schooner,'  the  plebian.  Oxen  traveled  about  fifteen  miles 
per  day ;  horses  twenty  to  thirty ;  footmen  twenty -five. 

As  we  passed  through  Kennekuck  an  emigrant,  who  had  left 
Atchison  without  satisfying  his  creditors,  suddenly  discovered  the 
sheriff  at  his  heels.  Putting  spurs  to  his  horse  he  dashed  off  ^at  a 
swift  run  while  the  officer  pursued.  The  fugitive  dropped  over 
coat  and  blanket,  but  Gilpin-like  did  not  stop  for  trifles.  At  last, 
barely  one  length  ahead,  his  panting  horse  crossed  the  line  into 
the  next  county.  Here,  fearless  of  the  sheriff,  he  turned  around, 
begged  that  officer  to  accept  his  lost  blanket  as  a  faint  token  of 


ALONG  THE  EMIGRANT  ROAD. 


{I860. 


regard,  and  present  his  love  to  inquiring  friends  at  borne !  Scat- 
tered  among  the  honest  folk  migrating  to  the  mountains  were 
adventurers  like  those  facetious  scoundrels  in  the  convict  colony 
at  New  South  Wales,  who  proclaimed  themselves : 

'  True  patriots  all ;  for  be  it  understood, 
We  left  our  country  for  our  country's  good  !' 

At  Ash  Point  one  of  the  little  groceries  springing  up  like 
mushrooms  bore  the  sign :  '  BUTTE,  EEGGS,  FLOWER  AND  MELE.' 
There  were  long  droves  of  cattle  for  California  whose  drivers  ex* 

pected  to  be  six 
months  on  the  way, 
and  thousands  of 
weary  oxen  coming 
in  from  Salt  Lake 
whose  thinly  clad 
bones  made  the  buz* 
zards  look  wistfully. 
In  Marshall  county 
at  the  crossing  of  the 
Big  Blue,  the  clear- 

'BO   THEY   3,ISS  ME   AT   HOME?'  «*  Btream  "'  K™S*8' 

we  passed  Marys- 

ville  founded  by  Colonel  Frank  Marshall,  a  Border  Ruffian,  of  some 
notoriety.  He  had  a  passion  for  the  name  of  Mary,  and  called  the 
embryo  city  in  honor  of  his  wife.  It  had  fifty  houses  and  was 
famed  for  whisky  and  shooting  affrays.  The  grand  jury  had  in 
dicted  a  dozen  inhabitants  for  horse  racing,  and  the  criminals  were 
in  great  glee  because  the  district  judge  by  whom  they  must  be 
tried  had  also  been  a  judge  at  the  race  in  question ! 

Beyond  Fort  Kearney  a  sudden  night-storm  blew  down  our 
Sibley  tent.  To  replace  it  was  impossible ;  no  man  could  stand 
against  the  bleak  desert  wind.  So  we  shivered  through  the  long 
hours  till  daylight  found  us  half  covered  with  sand,  which  had 
permeated  all  our  clothing.  At  midnight  a  drove  of  stampeding 
cattle  came  rushing  toward  us.  Frightened  by  the  heap  of  canvas 
they  divided  and  ran  by  without  trampling  upon  us. 

We  often  encamped  with  old  friends,  and  beguiled  the  evening 


I860.]  HUMORS    OF    PLAINS    TRAVEL.  289 

hours  with  reading  or  whist  or  the  music  of  violin  and  flute.  By 
day  the  road  was  lively.  Many  emigrant  women  rode  saddle 
horses,  though  most  were  in  ox-wagons.  All  seemed  to  enjoy  the 
trip,  though  each  invariably  apologized  for  her  untidy  looks.  We 
saw  one  bloomer  who  weighed  two  hundred  and  fifty  pounds 
driving  oxen  while  her  husband  slept  soundly  in  their  wagon. 
Another  leviathan  from  New  Hampshire  would  have  satisfied  the 
great  Julius ;  for  he  weighed  three  hundred  and  fifty,  he  was  fat, 
he  was  sleek-headed  and  he  slept  o'  nights. 

There  were  many  fresh  graves,  and  upon  one  secluded  island 
of  the  Platte  were  found  the  bloody  remains  of  a  little  girl  with 
broken  skull.  It  was  difficult  to  surmise  the  motive  for  the  mur 
der  of  the  poor  child. 

One  wagon  drawn  by  six  cows  bore  the  charcoal  label :  {  FAMILY 
EXPRESS  ;  MILK  FOR  SALE.'  Many  displayed  the  sign :  *  OLD 
BOURBON  WHISKY  SOLD  HERE!'  Among  other  quaint  inscrip 
tion  were: — 

1 1  am  off  for  the  Peak ;  are  you  ?' 

'  Good  bye  friends ;  I  am  bound  to  try  the  Peak.' 

'  The  eleventh  commandment :  Mind  your  own  business.' 

1  Ho  for  California.' 

'  Oregon  or  death!' 

We  cooked  our  own  meals  of  coffee,  biscuit  and  pork,  upon 
the  open  prairie  with  buffalo  chips  for  fuel.  In  our  evening  camp 
an  ex-clergyman  might  be  seen  devoting  himself  to  the  supper,  a 
Boston  steel  engraver  and  an  old  California  miner  greasing  the 
wagon,  while  a  Missouri  railway  contractor  and  an  Ohio  lawyer 
watched  the  grazing  mules. 

At  last  we  felt  the  invigorating  breath  of  the  pines,  and  saw  the 
shining  crests  of  the  Mother  Mountains.  On  the  tenth  of  June, 
twenty-three  days  out,  we  reached  Denver.  Here  Knox  and  my 
self  spent  the  summer  as  correspondents,  also  editing  the  Golden 
City  Weekly  Mountaineer,  by  way  of  recreation. 

Denver  was  uncomfortably  crowded ;  so  we  built  a  little  frame 
house  in  the  midst  of  a  prairie-dog-town,  commanding  a  superb 
view  of  the  mountain  scenery,  probably  more  grand  than  that 
looked  upon  from  any  other  town  in  the  world. 

Colorado  Territory  was  not  yet  organized.     The  whole  gold 


290         OUR    PIONEERS    AND    SELF    GOVERNMENT.    [1860, 

region,  nominally  within  the  limits  of  Kansas,  but  separated  from 
all  her  farming  population  by  the  vast  desert,  contained  no  law, 
no  courts,  no  authorities.  There  had  been  two  or  three  abortive 
constitutional  conventions,  and  delegates  sent  to  Washington  in 
the  vain  attempt  to  secure  a  Territorial  organization.  One  of 
these  would-be  Congressmen  was  a  brilliant  example  of  the  ver 
nacular  of  his  native  Kentucky.  In  an  earnest  public  discussion 
he  thus  appealed  to  his  auditors : 

'  Why  gentlemen,  are  you  awar  whar  you  are  ?' 

Many  wished  the  nascent  State  named  Pike's  Peak — quite  as 
convenient  an  appellation  as  Rhode  Island.  But  in  due  time  it 
was  called'  Colorado,  after  the  great  river  thus  named  by  Spanish 
explorers  from  the  red  earth  along  its  banks. 

Our  pioneers  enforce  order  and  the  right  of  the  majority  to  rule, 
instinctively — as  water  runs  down  hill.  Lord  Brougham  said  that 
all  the  bloodshed  and  rebellions  of  Great  Britain,  had  been 
simply  to  establish  the  principle  that  every  question  of  life, 
liberty  or  property  must  be  submitted  to  twelve  unbiased  men. 
Our  own  frontiers  recognize  this  right.  Establish  a  thousand 
American  settlers  in  the  Himalayas,  and  in  one  month  they  would 
have  all  needful  laws  in  operation,  with  life  and  property  quite  as 
well  protected  as  in  the  city  of  New  York. 

The  Denver  people  were  a  law  unto  themselves.  Whenever  a 
grave  crime  had  been  committed,  an  informal  court  was  organized, 
some  leading  citizen  placed  upon  the  bench,  and  a  jury  made  up 
of  substantial  merchants  and  mechanics.  The  prisoner  was  tried, 
allowed  counsel,  and  if  guilty  sentenced  to  be  hanged  within  one 
or  two  days. 

These  courts  were  as  alert  as  the  pioneer  circuit  judge  in  the 
early  days  of  Iowa.  His  honor,  accompanied  by  sheriff  and  clerk, 
meeting  a  horse-thief  on  a  public  road,  held  his  court  upon  the 
spot,  tried  and  convicted  the  criminal,  and  sent  him  to  the  peni 
tentiary  for  five  years. 

The  week  after  our  arrival,  a  murderer  was  thus  condemed  and 
executed.  A  few  days  later,  another  was  tried.  The  jury  found 
him  guilty.  The  judge  asked  the  prisoner  if  he  had  any  reason 
to  offer  why  sentence  of  death  should  not  be  passed  upon  him. 
He  replied : 


I860.] 


AN    ILLUSTKATION    OF    LYNCH    LAW. 


291 


*  I  have  nothing  to  say.' 

Then  the  judge  submitted  the  question  to  the  four  or  five 
hundred  spectators : 

1  Gentlemen,  you  who  believe  this  verdict  is  just  will  say  Aye.' 

The  answer  was  an  overwhelming  roar  of  affirmatives. 

'  Contrary-minded  will  say  No.' 

One  solitary  negative  came  up  from  the  crowd.  With  immov 
able  serenity,  the  prisoner  heard  the  question  of  his  life  or  death 
submitted  to  the  assembly,  like  a  resolution  or  a  point  of  order. 
He  was  sentenced  to  die  on  the  following  morning;  and  remanded 
to  the  custody  of  the  volunteer  officers.  But  that  night  he  eluded 
the  guards  and  decamped,  stealing  a  wagon  and  a  pair  of  mules  to 
facilitate  his  traveling.  He  was  never  caught ;  but  the  indignant 
people  came  very  near  hanging  the  officers  on  bare  suspicion  that 
they  connived  at  his  escape. 


AN   ARMED    NEUTRALITY. 


In  June  an  Arapahoe  war  party  went  out  for  wool  and  came 
back  shorn.  After  destroying  a  defenseless  village  of  Ute  women 
and  children,  they  were  quietly  smoking  their  pipes  in  camp,  when 


292       GORDON'S  CAPTURE,  TRIAL  AND  DEATH.  [1860. 

Ute  warriors  swooped  down  upon  them,  killed  six  and  wounded 
thirty  more.  In  New  Mexico,  twenty -one  Arapahoes  started  in 
pursuit  of  the  same  ugly  enemies.  While  they  were  supping  in 
camp  the  Utes  suddenly  closed  in  upon  them,  killing  and  scalping 
every  one.  Two  weeks  later  a  party  of  whites  discovered  the 
ghastly  corpses  with  morsels  of  meat  still  between  their  lips. 

A  desperado  named  James  Gordon,  killed  a  harmless  German 
and  then  fled  eastward.  He  took  refuge  in  Fort  Lupton,  a  ranch  a 
few  miles  north  of  Denver.  A  party  of  pursuers  had  surrounded 
the  fort,  when  Gordon  rode  out  upon  a  fleet  horse  and  dashed 
away.  A  shower  of  bullets  whizzed  about  him,  but  he  made  good 
his  escape.  Officers  appointed  by  a  meeting  of  citizens,  tracked 
the  murderer  seventeen  hundred  miles,  and  captured  him  in 
southern  Kansas  near  the  Indian  Territory.  They  took  him  tq 
Leavenworth  where  the  United  States  district  court  at  once  set 
him  at  liberty,  on  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus.  The  large  German 
population  of  Leavenworth  gathered  in  a  determined  mob,  and 
three  times  had  a  rope  around  Gordon's  neck.  But*  his  pursuers 
and  the  Leavenworth  officers  resisted  the  bloodthirsty  assailants. 
Every  shred  of  clothing  was  torn  from  the  poor  wretch,  and  he 
begged  the  guards  to  give  him  up  or  kill  him  at  once.  At  last, 
after  an  express  agreement  that  he  should  be  returned  to  the 
mountains  for  trial,  the  mob  dispersed.  Middaugh,  the  leading 
officer  from  Denver  took  him  back  to  that  city  in  irons. 

Gordon  was  only  twenty-three,  and  when  sober,  intelligent  and 
well-behaved.  But  while  intoxicated  he  had  already  killed  three 
or  four  men.  He  had  been  specially  kind  to  his  aged  father  and 
mother.  He  was  tried  and  convicted  in  a  citizens'  court ;  guarded 
for  a  week  by  armed  sentinels  against  rescue  from  his  friends,  and 
finally  executed.  No  court  in  the  world  could  have  acted  with 
more  fairness  and  firmness.  All  the  expenses  of  the  three-thou 
sand-mile  pursuit  were  defrayed  by  voluntary  contributions. 

As  in  all  new  mining  regions  there  was  an  irrepressible  conflict 
between  the  industrious  sterling  citizens,  and  the  desperadoes, 
strengthened  by  their  sympathizers  of  wealth  and  position,  who 
formed  the  connecting  link  between  villainy  and  respectability. 
The  Rocky  Mountain  News  offended  the  scoundrels  by  some  com 
ments  upon  a  wanton  murder.  While  the  editor,  William  M. 


I860.]  WONDERFUL    TENACITY    OF    LIFE.  293 

Bjers,  sat  in  his  office  conversing  with  three  pacific  strangers 
from  the  East,  four  gamblers  rushed  in  with  cocked  revolvers  and 
abusive  epithets,  dragged  Byers  to  a  drinking  saloon  where,  only 
through  the  strategy  of  a  friend,  was  he  saved  from  death.  After 
his  escape,  the  enraged  gamblers  rode  back  to  the  News  office  and 
fired  several  bullets  into  it. 

The  establishment  was  always  in  a  state  of  armed  neutrality. 
Printers  and  editors  were  moving  arsenals,  with  revolvers  at 
their  belts  and  shot-guns  standing  beside  their  cases  and  desks. 
The  typos  returned  the  fire,  killing  one  of  the  assailants.  By 
this  time  half  a  dozen  armed  citizens  reached  the  scene  and  chased 
the  ftying  gamblers  through  the  streets.  One  of  the  latter  named 
Steele,  galloping  along  Blake  street,  met  Thomas  W.  Pollock 
whose  horse  was  also  upon  a  full  run.  Neither  checked  his  speed. 
Both  fired  at  the  same  instant.  Pollock  was  unhurt^  Steele  fell 
dead  with  a  charge  of  buckshot  in  his  brain.  Another  of  the 
gamblers  was  captured  and  barely  escaped  hanging.  By  a  close 
vote  in  a  popular  assembly,  he  was  permitted  to  leave  the  country. 

The  pure  air  of  plains  and  mountains  gives  the  system  un 
exampled  power  of  resistance  to  disease  and  wounds.  In  July, 
.United  States  troops  at  Bent's  trading-post,  two  hundred  miles 
southeast  of  Denver,  captured  a  number  of  Kiowa  Indians. 
Afterward  ordered  eastward,  they  left  the  prisoners  in  Bent's 
charge,  but  the  wily  savages  soon  escaped.  Then  Bent  dispatched 
Mark  Kalfe,  a  young  Frenchman,  down  the  Arkansas  to  inform 
the  commanding  officer.  After  Kalfe  had  ridden  forty  miles,  the 
Kiowas  fell  upon  him,  shooting  him  in  three  places,  and  stabbing 
him  in  four.  Believing  him  dead,  they  took  his  scalp  with  a 
dull  knife,  leaving  no  hair  whatever  except  a  little  lock  above  each 
ear.  After  they  had  gone  he  recovered  consciousness,  and  with 
no  nourishment  except  water,  walked  back  to  the  fort.  In  a  few 
months  he  was  well  again. 

In  Colorado  City,  Pat  Devlin  crowned  his  career  (  see  page  126,) 
by  an  affray  in  which  he  received  six  heavy  slugs  in  vital  organs, 
yet  survived  almost  three  weeks. 

How  delicate  yet  marvelous  the  human  organism,  which  a  rap 
upon  the  temple  or  a  prick  from  a  needle  may  destroy,  and  which 
yet  survives  wounds  that  would  kill  a  buffalo  or  a  grizzly  bear  ! 


294  A    SUMMEE    DAY    IN    DENVER.  [1860. 


CHAPTER    XXV. 

NOVEL  phases  of  life  were  exhibited  in  Denver  during  this  sec 
ond  summer  of  its  settlement.  Let  reader  play  the  visitor  and 
author  the  cicerone. 

Weeks  ago  you  left  the  locomotive  on  the  Missouri.  The 
weary  journey  since  has  taught  you  how  the  railway  condenses  life. 
After  starting  by  horse-power,  two  hundred  miles  out  you  left  the 
last  farming  settlement.  Another  hundred  miles,  and  you  struck 
the  Platte,  following  it  to  a  point  eighty  miles  from  Denver,  where 
you  took  the  great  'cut-off'  across  the  barren,  alkaline  desert — the 
unkindest  cut-off  of  all.  You  have  felt  the  wild  pleasure  of  buf 
falo  hunting,  shaken  a  rattlesnake  from  your  blanket  at  night, 
dived  into  the  occult  mysteries  of  cooking,  to  bring  forth  biscuits 
and  flapjacks,  frolicked  among  prairie  dogs,  hob-nobbed  with  In 
dians,  been  drenched  by  rain-storms,  and  hungered  and  thirsted 
after  the  newspapers  of  civilization. 

After  six  hundred  miles  of  naked  prairie  and  monotonous  des 
ert,  the  resinous  odor  of  the  pine  greeted  your  nostrils  and 
the  distant  mountains  towered  grandly  before  your  charmed 
arid  astonished  eyes.  Last  night  you  again  saw  the  shining 
Platte,  and  this  morning  you  rose  upon  the  outskirts  of  Den 
ver  before  the  sun.  But  your  journey  was  not  yet  ended ;  for 
this  city  with  its  additions  embraces  five  thousand  acres  of 
building  lots.  Blake  street  is  as  lively  as  Broadway.  But  Saint 
Charles  street,  with  no  devices  except  the  surveyors'  stakes  and 
no  inhabitants  save  prairie  dogs,  is  as  desolate  and  uninviting  as 
the  Sahara. 

The  first  city  you  struck  was  a  city  of  the  dead.  Denver  is  but 
two  years  old,  yet  graves  are  thick  in  its  new  cemetery  on  the 


I860.]        BEST    HOUSE    IN    THE    NEIGHBOKHOOD. 


295 


bare  hill ;  and  of  their  inmates  a  large  majority  met  violent  deaths. 
You  descended  a  gentle  slope  among  a  few  log-cabins  and  scattered 
board  houses;  and  now  you  stand  upon  our  threshold,  looking  as 
if  you  had  not  loved  the  world  nor  the  world  you — ragged  but 
rejoicing,  dilapidated  but  not  downcast.  Half  an  hour  for  ablu 
tions  and  toilet. 

In  New  York,  our  one-story  house,  fourteen  feet  by  twenty 
with  eight  feet  of  shed  for  a  kitchen,  would  be  an  indifferent 


OUR   HOUSE   IN   DENVER. 


stable ;  here  it  is  a  palace. 
Walls  of  rough  upright 
boards,  with  cracks  bat 
tened  to  keep  out  rain 
and  dust;  chief  external  features:  a  square,  clapboarded  front, 
three  doors,  three  windows,  and  a  stove-pipe  protruding  from  the 
kitchen -roof.  It  cost  three  hundred  dollars,  and  has  *  all  the  mod 
ern  improvements '  of  this  longitude — kitchen  and  cellar.  We 
occupy  a  better  house  than  any  of  our  neighbors,  and  what  more 
could  human  nature  ask?  The  interior  boasts  neither  partition, 
ceiling  nor  plastering.  Here  is  a  decrepit  desk  which  once  did 
duty  in  a  Cincinnati  editorial  room  and  afterward  in  a  Kansas 
cottage.  The  one  shelf  contains  the  only  two  '  Unabridged  '  die- 


296  A' BREAKFAST    PAETY    OF    ROVERS.  [1860. 

tionaries  in  the  gold  region,  and  a  dozen  works  of  travel.  A  bed 
on  the  floor  with  snowy  sheets,  two  chairs,  three  stools,  one  bench, 
one  table,  two  revolvers,  one  musket,  one  bowie-knife  and  three  or 
four  trunks  and  carpet  sacks,  make  up  the  inventory  of  household 
goods. 

During  our  chat  the  Ethiopian  Sam,  caterer,  steward  and  facto- 
turn,  announces  breakfast.  Two  years  ago  Sam  was  a  barber  in 
Lecompton.  When  Samuel  Medary,  eighth  Kansas  governor  with 
in  three  years,  had  taken  his  initial  shave,  he  proposed  to  pay  by 
the  month.  Sam's  witty  answer  went  on  a  newspaper  tour  from 
Maine  to  Oregon : 

*  If  you  please,  mass'r,  I  prefer  to  have  you  pay  "by  de  shave ; 
dese  new  gub'ners  goes  away  so  mighty  sudden !' 

He  is  still  the  slave  of  Judge  Elmore  of  Kansas.  For  the  last 
three  years  he  has  hired  his  time  at  thirty  dollars  per  month  ;  and 
now  the  judge  has  permitted  him  to  come  to  Pike's  Peak,  upon  his 
agreement  to  pay  twelve  hundred  dollars  for  himself  as  soon  as  he 
can  accumulate  the  money.  He  reads  fluently  and  writes  a  little ; 
concocts  miraculous  sherry  cobblers,  and  is  a  man  of  brains.  In 
that  cabin  a  hundred  yards  away  are  templed  his  household  gods. 
His  wife,  now  standing  in  the  door,  was  formerly  a  slave  of  the 
Rev.  '  Tom  Johnson,''  of  the  Kansas  Shawnee  Mission ;  but  from 
her  earnings  as  a  laundress  saved  and  paid  six  hundred  dollars  in 
hard  cash  for  her  freedom.  In  ber  arms  you  see  a  little  image  of 
God  cut  in  ebony,  with  astonishing  white  <eyes,  which  all  the  mat 
rons  hereabout  declare  the  '  cunningest '  of  babies. 

Our  breakfast  party  is  composed  of  half  a  dozen  rovers  who, 
kept  at  home,  would  have  famished  for  travel  and  excitement — 
young  men  to  whom  '  magnificent  distances  appear  beautiful  and 
the  possibilities  of  infinite  far-off-ness  -delicious.1  One  used  to 
keep  a  hotel  in  Sacramento;  another,  a  smooth-faced  boy,  has 
made  two  voyages  up  the  Mediterranean ;  the  third  has  done  busi 
ness  in  Boston,  New  York,  Australia,  California,  Missouri  and 
Kansas ;  the  fourth,  typo  and  editor,  'has  worked  upon  newspapers 
in  Chicago,  California,  Australia,  New  Zealand,  and  Peru;  the 
fifth  was  recently  principal  of  a  New  Hampshire  academy  ;  and 
the  sixth,  for  ten  years  a  journalistic  shuttlecock,  has  taken  notes 
among  eastern  newspaper  offices,  Kansas  wars,  Nebraska  buffaloes, 


I860.]    NEWSPAPERS,    CHURCHES,    HOTELS,    STORES.     297 

Missouri  iron  and  lead  mines,  Arkansas  fevers,  Choctaw  cotton 
plantations,  Texas  northers,  Mexican  fandangoes,  and  Rocky 
Mountain  Indians. 

Here  is  the  morning  newspaper,  damp  from  the  press,  in  season 
for  our  ultimate  cups  of  coffee.  It  is  about  one-third  as  large  as 
the  Tribune,  delivered  by  the  carrier  at  fifty  cents  per  week,  arid 
edited  by  an  Englishman  who  cherishes  deep-seated  malignity 
against  the  letter  'h,'  and  fears  neither  God,  man  nor  Lindley 
Murray.  With  only  four  thousand  people,  Denver  has  three  daily 
newspapers. 

Here  comes  the  milk-man,  in  whose  fluid  the  aqueous  largely 
preponderates  over  the  lacteal ;  and  he  is  closely  followed  by  the 
ice-rnan,  and  the  vender  of  vegetables.  After  all  we  are  not  so 
far  out  of  the  world ;  it  is  only  five  hundred  miles  to  the  nearest 
telegraph  station. 

Now  we  will  stroll  down  and  see  the  lions.  Buckling-  on  our 
revolvers  ?  Most  certainly.  It  may  shock  you  who  have  always 
lived  in  a  state  of  utter  civilization,  but  no  journalist  who  means 
to  tell  the  truth  is  wise  to  step  into  these  streets  without  some 
display  of  fire-arrns,  unless  partial  to  having  his  nose  pulled  or 
being  made  a  target. 

Here  is  rising  a  frame  Catholic  church.  Who  can  travel  beyond 
the  far-reaching  arms  of  the  Roman  power,  even  in  the  decadence? 
A  walk  of  a  third  of  a  mile,  past  lumber  yards  and  scattered 
nebulous  frames  daily  developing  into  neat  cottages,  brings  us 
to  Larimer  street.  One  square  to  the  right  is  the  Broad  well 
House,  a  large  wooden  structure,  where  you  can  obtain  tolerable 
accommodations  at  Astor  House  prices.  To  the  left  a  labyrinth  of 
buildings  including  the  new  brick  church,  trading  houses  and  dens 
of  vice — temples  to  God,  Mammon  and  Satan,  side  by  side. 

Here  is  the  City  Drug-store  of  brick,  which  would  look  well  in 
St  Louis  or  Chicago ;  within,  you  may  buy  the  latest  newspapers, 
ten  days  old,  for  twenty  cents.  Ten  thousand  eastern  journals 
arrive  in  Denver  weekly. 

Looking  down  F  street  for  five  blocks  we  see  the  shining  Platte, 
its  green  banks  sprinkled  with  immigrant  tents  and  Indian  lodges. 
Beyond  rise  the  abrupt  many-colored  mountains.  Handsome 
blocks  are  everywhere  springing  up,  interspersed  with  smaller 


298 


MINT,    EXPRESS-OFFICE,   AND    COACH.          [1860. 


wooden  buildings  and  log-cabins,  relics  of  the  remote  antiquity 
of  a  twelvemonth  ago.  Bricks  are  the  cheapest  material,  costing 
only  six  dollars  per  thousand,  while  lumber  commands  five  dollars 
per  hundred.  A  corner  lot,  twenty-five  feet  by  one  hundred,  has 
just  sold  for  twelve  hundred  dollars. 

We  stroll  down  G  street  past  the  banking-house  ,  assay  office 
and  mint  of  Clark,  Gruber  and  Company.*  Within  one  sees 
pouches  and  bags  of  shining  dust,  and  glittering  nuggets.  The 
firm  issue  their  own  gold  coins  of  two  and-a-half,  five,  ten  and 
twenty  dollars.  They  form  the  chief  currency  of  the  town,  though 
much  crude  dust  circulates  in  the  mountains. 

Below  the  corner  of  Blake  street,  is  the  huge  frame  two-story  ex 
press   office, 
with       low, 
long,      one- 
story   wing, 
running  up 
nearly    one 
square  upon 
G.  In  it  are 
the  two  win 
dows  of  the 
express  pos 
tal     depart 
ment,      and 
from     them 
stretches     a 
long  file  of 
anxious    in 
quirers  each  patiently  awaiting  his  turn 
to  be  served  with  letters.     Near  by  is 
the   office  of  Hinckley's  express  which 
forwards   mail  matter   from    Denver  to 
twenty  thousand  miners  in  the  mountains. 

On  the  corner,  a  hundred  people  are  gazing  at  the  Concord  coach 
of  the  Central  Overland  and  Pike's  Peak  Express  Company,  about 


WAITING   FOR   LETTERS. 


*  Since  converted  into  the  United  States  Branch  Mint. 


I860.]    CURIOUS  CHARACTERS  FROM  EVERYWHERE. 


299 


to  start  for  the  Missiouri  river.  (Tri-weekly ;  six  hundred  and 
fifty-two  miles ;  seventy-five  dollars,  exclusive  of  board ;  six  days.) 
Every  seat  is  filled,  and  every  passenger  known  or  vouched  for, 
as  this  is  the  one  day  of  the  week  upon  which  an  express  messenger 
is  on  board  with  forty  or  fifty  thousand  dollars  in  gold  dust. 

A  motley  crowd  waits  to  witness  the  departure.  Here  is  a  well- 
formed  elderly  man,  with  a  devil-may-care  expression,  but  a  face 
full  of  character  and  of  wonderful  perceptive  faculties ;  long  black 
hair,  complexion  like  a  Mexican,  and  eyes  like  an  Indian.  It  is 
James  P.  Beckwourth  the  half-breed,  so  long  a  chief  among  the 
Crow  tribe,  and  the  most  famous  Indian  fighter  of  this  generation. 
His  body  is  scarred  from  wounds  received 

1  In  worst  extremes,  and  on  the  perilous  edge 
Of  battle,  when  it  raged.' 

But  he  is  the  very  pink  of  courtesy,  and  specially  devoted  to 
a  comely  young  wife  whom  he  invariably  dignifies  with  the  title 
of  '  Lady  Beckwourth.' 

That  symmetrical  dark  man  of  thirty,  a  swarthy  Adonis  of  the 
plains,  has  been  a  Kansas  Border  Kuman,  a  Nicaraguan  filibuster, 
a  prisoner  among  the  Mexicans,  wearing  a  chain  and  working  upon 
roads  for  more  than  a  year,  a  surveyor  on  the  Panama  railroad, 
and  a  wanderer  through  the  world  at  large. 

Here  is  the  sanguine  owner  of  a  new  quartz  mill  in  the  moun 
tains,  which  he  is  persuaded  will  make  him  a  millionaire.  His 
interlocutor  has  just  sold  his  quartz  mill  for  half  its  cost,  and  is 
returning  to  the  States  declaring  the  gold  region  a  humbug. 

When  I  first  met  that  elderly  gentleman,  he  was  a  wealthy 
Pennsylvania  banker,  in  broadcloth  and  fine  linen,  who  had 
narrowly  escaped  being  made  governor  of  the  Keystone  State. 
When  I  next  saw  him  he  was  arrayed  in  buckskin  and  corduroys, 
in  a  Pike's  Peak  cabin,  cooking  flapjacks  for  his  own  breakfast. 
He  is  now  a  candidate  for  Congress. 

The  tall  thin-faced  person  with  mutton-chop  whiskers  is  the 
famous  '  wheelbarrow  man,'  who  trundled  his  entire  outfit  across 
the  plains  bringing  just  ten  cents  in  his  pocket.  Now  he  also  is 
an  aspirant  for  Congressional  honors. 

Then  there  are  broken  down  eastern  merchants  again  facing  life 


800  A    STROLL    DOWN    BLAKE    STREET.  [1860. 

manfully,  mechanics,  speculators,  loafers,  blanketed  Arapahoes 
and  repulsive  squaws  each  with  a  coal-eyed  papoose  peeping  over 
her  shoulder,  and  three  or  four  naked  young  Ked-skins  at  her  heels. 

The  passengers  receive  the  ultimate  hand-shakings  and  final 
valedictions ;  the  coach  rolls  away  on  its  long  journey. 

Now  we  walk  down  Blake  street.  A  busy  scene,  a  mingled 
maze  of  various  life.  Liquor  stores  arid  saloons  at  almost  every 


INDIAN   VILLAGE  IN   DENVER,    IN    1860. 

door.  In  the  groceries,  rich  yellow  pumpkins,  potatoes,  beets; 
turnips,  cucumbers,  and  melons.  Here  you  'see  a  beet  weighing 
thirteen  pounds,  a  turnip  weighing  fourteen,  and  a  cabbage  twenty- 
three.  Strangers  offer  you  investments  in  mining-claims  and 
building  lots ;  there  is  speculation  in  those  eyes  which  they  do 
glare  with. 

A  few  yards  from  this  busy  street,  you  may  visit  the  village  of 
the  Arapahoes,  where  barbarism  thus  far  maintains  its  ground 
against  the  advance  of  (nominal)  civilization.  But  ere  long  it 
must  be  crowded  out.  In  general  the  Arapahoes  are  poorer, 


I860.]  AN    EDITOR    AND    A    COUNT.  801 

more  filthy,  more  wretched  than  most  other  tribes  of  the  plains ; 
but  when  prepared  for  the  war-path  the  braves  are  sometimes  pic 
turesque  ;  and  the  squaws  are  at  least  rich  in  the  number  of  their 
children  playing  about  the  lodges. 

In  Denver  Hall,  where  the  gamblers  are  busy,  that  tall  Italian 
in  solemn  black,  smoking  a  huge  meerschaum,  claims  to  be  a 
count.  He  formerly  resided  on  the  upper  Mississippi,  which  he 
left  to  the  great  bereavement  of  his  creditors.  He  is  now  a  specu 
lator;  last  year  he  was  a  barber,  and  his  wife  a  laundress.  One 
morning  he  entered  the  room  of  the  editor  of  the  Tribune,  in 
this  very  building,  with  a  basket  upon  his  arm. 

COUNT. — I  have  brought  your  washing  home,  Mr.  Gr — ;  ten 
pieces. 

EDITOR  (looking  up  abstractedly  from  a  half-written  letter.) — 
Yes.  How  much  will  it  be  ? 

COUNT. — Two  dollars  and  a  half  sir. 

EDITOR  (with  slightly-elevated  eyebrows.) — And  you  shaved 
me  yesterday  beside.  How  much  will  that  be  ? 

COUNT. — One  dollar  sir. 

EDITOR  (with  deliberation  and  solemnity.) — Is  that  all  I  owe 
you? 

COUNT  (cheerfully.) — Yes  sir. 

With  an  air  of  relief  the  bill  was  paid ;  and  the  count  departed 
gaily,  while  the  editor  dryly  observed  that  he  would  hardly  be 
compelled  to  leave  this  country  surreptitiously,  from  inability  to 
pay  his  creditors. 

Once  more  in  the  street,  you  notice  that  knot  of  idlers  in  front 
of  the  saloon,  drawn  thither  by  a  drunken  brawl.  One  belligerent 
produces  a  weapon.  How  suddenly  half  the  lookers-on  disappear 
around  the  corner,  while  the  remaining  half  instantly  draw  their 
revolvers !  The  disturbance  is  quelled  without  bloodshed ;  but 
you  feel  like  the  epigrammatic  sailor  who  had  promised  to  describe 
manners  and  customs  wherever  he  traveled.  After  being  ship 
wrecked  in  Patagonia,  he  reported  thus :  *  The  people  here  have 
no  manners,  and  their  customs  are  disgusting.7 

Still  there  is  a  pure,  pleasant,  social  life  for  those  who  know 
where  to  find  it.     On  the  street  you  observe  many  ladies  dressed 
tastefully  and  even  elegantly. 
20 


302  A    GKAND      MOUNTAIN    PANOKAMA.  [1860. 

The  stages  have  come  in  from  the  mountains,  crowded  with 
dusty  passengers,  and  bringing  the  express  messengers  with  their 
packages  of  letters  and  gold  dust  for  the  States.  The  shadows 
begin  to  lengthen,  and  we  stroll  homeward. 

Tea  over,  we  recline  upon  the  greensward  before  our  door. 
Prairie  squirrels  look  up  inquiringly,  as  they  play  at  our  very  feet, 
and  blackbirds  walk  about  in  confident  security,  with  grateful 
memories  of  daily  crumbs  from  our  table. 

But  look  up,  beyond  the  city,  the  tufts  of  trees  and  the  green 
prairie!  Eighty  miles  to  the  south,  Pike's  Peak,  like  an  old 
castle,  'majestic,  though  in  ruin,'  lies  dim  and  dreamy  against  the 
sky.  Seventy  miles  to  the  north  stands  Long's  Peak,  distinct, 
rugged  and  corrugated,  its  feet  wreathed  in  pine,  and  its  head 
crested  with  snow.  A  dark,  irregular,  variegated  wall,  at  the 
verge  of  the  sensible  horizon,  sweeps  grandly  between;  and  beyond, 
on  either  end,  merges  into  the  debatable  ground  between  earth 
and  sky. 

It  reveals^  every  hue,  from  the  dark,  rich  purple  of  the  nearest 
hills,  to  the  unsullied  white  of  the  Snowy  Kange;  every  form,  from 
the  long,  flat  summit  of  Table  Mountain,  to  that  perfect  cone,  wait 
ing,  to  impale  the  dying  sun.  Gaze  on  it  daily  for  months  and 
you  shall,  never  find  the  same  picture,  but  always  an  endless  va 
riety,  a  perpetual  delight. 

Here,  at  the  door  of  our  rude  cabin,  Nature  spreads  before  us  such 
a  panorama  as  never  feasted  the  eye  of  monarch  in  his  palace.  Last 
night  that  furthest  mountain  was  arrayed  in  a  fiery  glory  too  daz 
zling  to  look  upon.  Now  it  is  robed  in  the  pale,  unearthly  light 
of  another  world.  Does  it  seem  that  you  could  ever  reach  it  by 
mortal  means,  or  clothed  in  mortal  body  ?  You  can  only  think 
of  the  Celestial  City,  as>  it  burst  upon  the  vision  of  the  pilgrim 
Christian ;  or  those  Sabbath  evening  pictures  of  heaven  opening 
to  earth,  received  in  childhood  at  your  mother's  knee. 

The  sun  goes  down,  but  the  cold  air  assails  you  in  vain.  Still 
you  lie  upon  the  sward  in  silence,  that  c  perfectest  herald  of  joy,' 
until  the  last  fold  of  Night's  curtain  has  fallen  and  shut  out  the 
miracle.  How  the  glories  of  painter  and  poet,  earthly  ambitions, 
human  life  itself,  dwarf  before  it !  In  wonder,  humility  and 
thankfulness  you  remember  the  work  of  the  Great  Artist. 


I860.]  LITTLE    RAVEN    LOSES    A    TREASURE.  803 


CHAPTER     XXVI. 


IN  September  the  Government  commissioner  Held  a  conference 
with  the  Arapahoes,  Cheyennes,  and  Comanches  at  Bent's  Fort. 
The  leading  chiefs  were  '  Little  Kaven,'  '  Stoum,'  ' Big  Mouth,' 
'Left  Hand,'  'White  Antelope,'  'Black  Kettle,'  'Old  Woman/ 
'  Black  Bird,'  and  '  Strong  Arm.'  In  studying.  Indian  names  and 
customs  one  is  constantly  reminded  of  the  striking  resemblance 
between  all  savage  nations,  ancient  and  modern,,  in  their  nomen 
clature,  mode  of  subsistence,  and  utensils  of  peace  and  war.  The 
Phenicians  who  first  visited  Great  Britain  found  the  islanders 
staining  thei1^  faces  and  bodies  with  colored  earths  and  juices  of 
plants,  wearing  no  clothing  but  skins,  living  in  huts  of  straw  and 
mud,  subsisting  upon  their  cattle,  planting  no  corn,  doing  no 
manual  labor,  and  each  tribe  commanded  by  its  own  chief. 

The  commissioner  distributed  medal  likenesses  of  Buchanan 
then  occupying  the  presidential  chair,  and  of  Douglas  and  Lincoln 
rival  candidates  for  it.  The  warriors  received  them  with  infinite 
pride.  Little  Raven  having  lost  his  Buchanan  offered  ten  horses 
for  the  recovery  of  the  priceless  treasure  ! 

The  Arapahoes  illustrated  their  civilization  by  bringing  in  a 
Pawnee  scalp  and  holding  a  war  dance  over  it  through  the  whole 
night.  The  trophy  was  nearly  destitute  of  hair,  and  therefore  of 
comparatively  little  worth ;  all  tribes  holding  it  a  mark  of  cow 
ardice  to  shave  the  head,  leaving  no  scalp-lock  for  an  enemy. 

After  receiving  blankets,  shirts,  trousers,  knives,  camp-kettles, 
tobacco  and  provisions,  the  Indians,  grotesquely  painted,  and 
decked  with  quills,  buffalo  heads,  bear  claws,  and  elk  teeth,  grati 
fied  the  whites  with  another  war  dance,  accompanied  by  the  usual 
demoniac  yells,  whoops  and  dervish-like  contortions. 


304  A    DENTIST    PRACTICES    STRATEGY.  [1860. 

In  September  two  miners  who  had  entered  the  diggings  in  May 
without  a  penny,  returned  to  Denver  with  twenty-seven  thousand 
dollars  in  gulch  gold.  I  met  another,  an  old  acquaintance,  who 
had  spent  two  seasons  in  hard  work  without  paying  his  board, 
but  still  remained  hopefully  venturing  in  the  great  lottery.  Fre 
quently  of  two  equally  promising  claims,  side  by  side,  one  would 
yield  thousands  of  dollars,  while  the  other  proved  utterly  worthless. 

Transporting  treasure  to  the  Missouri  involved  the  great  risk  of 
robbery ;  hence  the  express  charges  were  very  high.  Often  pas 
sengers  eluded  them  by  concealing  gold  bars  to  the  value  of  thirty 
or  forty  thousand  dollars  upon  their  persons.  When  fairly  on  the 
plains  they  would  transfer  the  heavy  burden  to  their  carpet  sacks. 
The  express  company  vainly  endeavored  to  prevent  this  violation, 
of  their  rules.  During  the  rebellion  they  induced  the  Atchison 
military  commandant  to  hold  one  passenger's  baggage  on  his  arrival, 
until  he  paid  express  charges  upon  his  bullion.  The  logic  of 
bayonets  was  so  irresistible  that  he  submitted  to  the  gross  outrage. 

The  absence  of  government  inaugurated  original  modes  of  col 
lecting  debts.  Possession  being  nine  points  of  the  law,  it  was 
only  necessary  for  the  revolver  to  establish  the  tenth.  But  a 
Denver  dentist,  wearied  with  vain  attempts  to  obtain  payment  for 
a  set  of  artificial  teeth  furnished  to  a  feminine  customer,  fell  back 
upon  strategy.  Calling  upon  the  gentle  debtor  he  suavely  in- 
quired  how  the  plate  was  working,  and  asked  permission  to  .exam 
ine  it.  When  it  was  handed  to  him  he  coolly  pocketed  it  and 
walked  away.  This  brought  the  money  very  promptly ;  for  is 
not  mastication  as  essential  to  dining  as  dining  to  existence  ? 

'"We  may  live  without  poetry,  music,  and  art; 
We  may  live  without  conscience,  and  live  without  heart ; 
We  may  live  without  friends,  we  may  live  without  books ; 
But  civilized  man  cannot  live  without  cooks. 
He  may  live  without  books — what  is  knowledge  but  grieving? 
He  may  live  without  hope — what  is  hope  but  deceiving? 
He  may  live  without  love — what  is  passion  but  pining? 
But  where  is  the  man  that  can  live  without  dining?' 

One  day  an  immigrant  wagon  on  Blake  street  contained  a  young 
cinnamon  bear  with  eyes  like  glowing  coals  and  teeth  like  a  razor. 
A  loafer  of  inquiring  mind  asked  carelessly : 


I860.]  A    HARD    COUNTRY    FOR    EDITORS.  305 

<  He  won't  bite  will  he  ?' 

At  the  same  moment  he  stroked  caressingly  the  nose  of  the 
whelp.  Young  bruin  responded  by  seizing  the  hand  between  his 
teeth.  With  air-piereing  shrieks  and  oaths  the  victim  snatched 
away  the  bleeding  member,  the  flesh  hanging  in  shreds  from  all 
the  ringers.  The  bearr  two  months  old,  weighed  three  hundred 
pounds.  His  mother,  just  killed,  weighed  eleven  hundred. 

Almost  every  week  witnessed  gross  outrages  from  despe 
radoes  crazed  by  the  poisonous  whisky  retailed  at  every  bar. 
Frequently  one  drew  his  revolver  upon  some  peaceful  citizen,  com 
pelling  him  to  fall  upon  bis  knees,  submit  to  every  vile  epithet 
and  beg  piteously  fb-r  his  life.  The  ruffians  who  did  this  seemed 
for  the  time  utterly  insane.  But  fully  half  the  citizens  wore  six- 
shooters,  and  however  helpless  for  the  moment  would  have  re 
sented  the  indignity  afterward  by  killing  its  perpetrator  at  sight. 
And  however  crazed  the  desperado  might  be  he  never  thus  in 
sulted  a  dangerous  man !  *  The  ass  knows  in  whose  face  he  brays.' 

It  was  a  fascinating  country  for  a  journalist.  Over  his  de 
voted  head  daily  and  nightly  hung  the  sword  of  Damocles.  An 
indignant  aspirant  for  Congress  meeting  the  editor  of  the  Denver 
Herald  in  the  street  spat  in  his  face.  Mr.  Byers  of  the  News,  whose 
establishment  after  the  first,  murderous  assault  was  a  well  stocked 
armory,  had  his  office  fired  and  hi& dwelling  burned,  but  by  taking 
a  bold  stand  verified  the  proverb  that  threatened  men  live  long. 

The  Denver  people,  tired  of  improvising  a  vigilance  committee 
after  every  outrage,  organized  a  city  government  and  elected  a  full 
board  of  officers.  The  desperadoes — like  most  scoundrels,  great 
sticklers  for  legality — refused  to  recognize  its  validity.  The  cor 
respondent  of  the  St.  Louis  Democrat  excited  the  ire  of  one  of 
Buchanan's  shining  appointees,  the  Denver  postmaster,  who  was 
also  chief  justice  of  the  embryo  Commonwealth,  under  a  move 
ment  for  a  State  government.  One  evening  this  functionary  lured 
the  journalist  into  the  post-office ;  then  closing  the  doors,  with  a 
cocked  revolver  at  the  head  of  the  luckless  scribe,  he  compelled 
him  to  write  and  sign  a  statement  that  he  knew  his  published  al 
legations  to  be  false  and  slanderous  when  he  made  them. 

Under  that  influence  which  knows  no  law,  the  correspondent 
made  this  voluntary  retraction.  But  the  people  took  the  matter 


806 


A  NIGHT  AT  APOLLO  THEATEK. 


[1860. 


in  hand  and  after  a  fierce  struggle,  the  postmaster,  who  was  a 
man  of  wealth,  and  sustained  by  all  the  leading  desperadoes,  as 

his  only  mode  of  escape 
from  the  gibbet,  succumbed 
to  the  city  government,  and 
gave  bonds  to  keep  the 
peace.  In  the  great  war  he 
turned  up  a  quartermaster 
in  the  rebel  service. 

Denver    already    boasted 
the  Apollo  Theater,  neither 
ceiled  nor  plastered,  illumi 
nated    by   twelve    candles, 
and       containing        rough 
benches  for  three   hundred 
and  fifty  people.     As  it  was 
the  upper-story  of  a  popular 
drinking     saloon,     clinking 
glasses,      rattling      billiard 
balls,  and  uproarious  songs 
interfered  with  the  perform 
ances.     The  price  of  admis 
sion  was  one  dollar ;  receipts  about  three  hundred  dollars  per  night. 
One  evening  I  saw  the  leading  characters  of  La  Tour  de  Nesle 
performed  not  much  worse    than    at  our  ordinary   metropolitan 
theaters.     But  the  auditors  were  the  real  attraction.     The  entrance 
fee  was  a  very  moderate  price  for  the  amusement  they  afforded. 
Gaultier  agonizingly  asked  concerning  his  murdered  relative: 

'  Where,  0  where  is  my  brother  ?' 

•    A  sepulchral  voice  from  the  midst  of  the  house,  answered  : 
'/am  thy  brother!' 

The  spectators  supposed  it  a  part  of  the  play,  but  discovering 
that  the  response  came  from  a  favorite  candidate  for  Congress 
greeted  it  with  cheer  after  cheer. 

Queen  Marguerite  with  due  horror  gave  the  exclamation : 
'  Then  I  am  lost  indeed  F 

A  miner,  directly  in  front  of  the  stage,  responded  emphatically; 
4  You  bet.' 


A   VOLUNTARY   RETRACTION. 


I860.] 


VISIT    TO    GREGORY    DIGGINGS. 


307 


The  tragic  death  of  Marigny,  elicited  from  another  spectator : 

1  Well  old  fellow,  so  you  are  gone  up  too.' 

And  at  the  tragic  close  Gaultier,  Marguerite  and  Buridan  were 
greeted  with: 

'  Bound  to  have  a  big  funeral,  aren't  you  ?' 

Among  the  spectators  were  several  ladies,  and  despite  the  boister- 
ousness  of  the  house  there  was  no  gross  coarseness  and  no  profanity. 

I  took  several  summer  trips  to  view  the  mines  and  natural 
curiosities.  Within  ten  miles  of  the  original  Gregory  Diggings, 
were  now  twenty  thousand  settlers.  Some  gold  seekers  were 
realizing  a  hundred  dollars 
per  day ;  but  not  one-third 
were  paying  expenses. 
Two  or  three  quartz 
mills  were  just  going  into 
operation.  Forty  or  fifty 
Mexican  arastras  each  with 
two  men  and  one  mule  or 
horse,  were  turning  out 
about  twenty-five  dollars 
a  day.  The  arastra  is  the 
most  primitive  invention 
for  crushing  quartz.  The 
fragments  of  rock  are 
spread  upon  a  circular 

inclosed  stone  bed,  on  which  a  mule  walks  led  by  one  arm  of  an 
upright  shaft,  as  in  the  old  fashioned  cider-mill,  and  dragging 
after  him  heavy  rocks  which  grind  out  the  quartz. 

Mining  nomenclature  is  always  curious.  The  name  of  one 
gulch,  '  Tarry-all,'  explains  itself.  Two  rich  lodes  were  called 
1  Bob-tail'  and  *  Shirt-tail.' 

Prospectors  found  three  blackened  corpses  in  a  district  of  burnt 
pines7  and  named  the  spot  'Dead  Man's  Gulch.'  'Negro  Gulch,' 
very  rich,  was  discovered  by  two  African  citizens  of  American 
descent.  Another  ravine  had  been  prospected  by  three  parties 
who  all  denounced  it  as  a  humbug,  when  a  fourth  company  found 
in  it  a  rich  lode;  and  it  was  known  thereafter  as  'Humbug  Gulch.1 

I  met  an  old  Boston  merchant  running  a  quartz  mill  success- 


THE   ARASTRA. 


308  PUNISHING    A    PRECOCIOUS    YOUTH.  [1860. 

fully,  and  an  ex-banker,  a  Presbyterian  deacon  from  eastern  Kansas, 
selling  pies  and  retailing  whisky  on  Sunday. 

For  stealing  a  pair  of  blankets,  a  lad  was  sentenced  by  the  local 
vigilance  committe  to  a  hundred  lashes.  The  sympathetic  castiga- 
tor  laid  them  on  very  lightly,  and  at  the  close,  the  boy  asked : 

4 Is  that  all?     Why  I  have  been  whipped  worse  at  school.' 

An  indignant  bystander  immediately  proposed  to  give-  him 
twenty-five  more.  The  precocious  youth  replied  : 

*No,  gentlemen,  you  can't  do  that.  It's  against  the  law  to  pun 
ish  a  man  twice  for  the  same  offense. 

With  the  Hinckley  express  messenger  crossing  the  Platte  river 
at  Denver,  I  turned  to  the  southwest  toward  Tarryall  and  Breckin- 
ridge.  In  that  clear  atmosphere  men  upon  the  road  five  miles 
away  could  be  seen  with  great  distinctness.  Before  us  were  the 
eternal  mountains,  pearly,  ashen,  or  snow-white-  shrouded  in 
dark  masses  of  pine,  brightened  with  yellowing  cottonwoods. 

At  the  foot  of  the  range  we  passed  Bradford,  a  city  of  one  local 
habitation  and  a  name.  Near  it,  huge  granite  rocks  resemble  an 
enormous  quadruped,  and  an  immense  human  head. 

Passing  the  unfailing  toll-gate,  we  zigzagged  for  two  miles  up  a 
sharp  hilL  Then  we  were  in  the  heart  of  hills,  rock-ribbed  and 
ancient  as  the  sun ;  among  tumbling  brooks,  yellowing  aspens  and 
forests  of  somber  pines  and  bluish  green  firs,  straight  as  arrows, 
their  tops  smooth  and  symmetric  as  grain  in  a  wheat  field. 

Passing  saw-mills,  shingle  factories  and  log  houses,  we  met  hun 
dreds  of  shaggy  miners  trudging  down,  to  winter  in  the  valley. 

Spending  the  night  at  the  ranch  of  a  gigantic  Kentuckian,  early 
morning  found  us  riding  again  in  the  crisp  air  among  Titanic  rocks, 
tall  pines  and  white-stemmed  aspens.  Six  times  during  the  day 
we  crossed  the  Platte,  here  less  than  twenty  feet  wide.  Over 
worked  oxen  lay  dying  among  road-side  stumps.  Toward  evening 
among  the  tall  peaks,  we  found  pleasant  grassy  valleys  where  ice 
had  formed  nightly  since  the  first  of  July. 

We  supped  upon  savory  mountain  sheep  at  a  lonely  ranch, 
where  the  host  instructed  my  companion  to  bring  from  Denver  a 
can  of  Goshen  butter  for  his  table,  and  a  hoop-skirt  for  his  young 
wife.  We  left  him  banking  his  log  house  up  to  the  eaves  to  keep 
out  the  cold,  already  biting,  although  it  was  early  in  October. 


I860.]  IN    THE    GREAT    SOUTH    PARK.  309- 

From  tbe  summit  of  a  hill  we  looked  into  the  great  South  Park 
spreading-  out  at  our  feet.  The  three  parks,  Northr  Middle  and 
South,  in  the  very  heart  of  the  Kocky  Mountains-  are  impressive 
natural  features.  This  one  is  a  smooth  prairie  of  crescent  shape, 
forty  miles  by  fifteen,  which  has  been  dropped  down  among  these 
mountain  fastnesses  to  be  imprisoned  forever  by  their  barriers  of 
rock.  Two  little  lakes  gleamed  in  the  green  expanse  of  velvet, 
which  alternated  with  pale  ashen  herbage,  spotted  with  clusters  of 
dead  brown  weeds.  On  every  side  the  prairie  sloped  up  gently 
toward  the  deepening  pines  of  the  foot-hills. 

A  faint  line  of  road  wound  across  the  smooth  floor.  Scattered 
log  ranches  with  hay-stacks,  grazing  cattle,  snowy  tents,  and 
columns  of  smoke  from  the  camp-fires  of  travelers,  formed  quiet 
pastoral  scenes  among  long  vistas  of  pine-fringed  verdure.  The 
waning  sun  flooded  the  delicious  picture  with  yellow  light. 

Descending  into  the  park  we  found  white  bleaching  buffalo 
bones  along  the  level  road.  The  thick  matted  grass  is  nutritious 
during  the  entire  winter,  and  the  soil  rich  though  ,whitened  with 
alkali.  One  enterprising  settler  had  planted  a  little  tract ;  but  as 
the  park  is  almost  eight  thousand  feet  above  the  sea  with  frosts 
every  month  in  the  year,  its  chief  value  is  for  grazing.  It  abounds 
in  delicate  petrifactions  of  pine-splinters  and  branches. 

Crossing  several  little  affluents  of  the  Platte  through  an  icy  at 
mosphere  streaked  with  warm  currents  like  the  breath  of  a  fur 
nace,  we  reached  Tarryall,  eighty  miles  from  Denver. 

The  next  morning  we  breakfasted  sumptuously  upon  mountain 
trout,  larger,  whiter  and  more  bony  than  the  trout  of  the  East. 
Their  color  is  dull  brown  with  specks  of  red ;  but  just  over  the 
dividing  ridge  in  waters  running  westward,  the  spots  become 
black.  Old  trappers  when  lost  among  the  mountains  drop  a  line 
in  the  first  stream,  and  learn  from  the  specks  of  these  Alpine 
trout  whether  the  waters  run  to  the  Atlantic  or  to  the  Pacific. 

Tarryall  contained  two  or  three  hundred  log  houses,  now 
mainly  deserted  for  the  winter.  The  diggings  revealed  tunnels 
extending  far  into  the  hills  and  the  surface  everywhere  gashed  and 
trenched.  They  yielded  gold  of  peculiarly  fine  quality. 

To  the  east,  immediately  across  the  park,  towered  Pike's  Peak. 
Though  grand  from  every  point,  the  view  here  is  less  impressive 


310 


A    MEMORABLE    SUMMER    EXCURSION. 


[1860. 


than  that  obtained  from  the  opposite  side,  on  the  road  from  Denver 
to  Colorado  City.  There,  forty  miles  from  the  foot  of  the  moun. 
tain,  the  best  distant  picture  is  gained. 

Tarry  all  is  upon  the  tribu 
taries  of  the  Platte.  Breckin 
ridge  lies  fifteen  miles  to  the 
west  over  the  water-shed. 
For  half  the  distance  I  found 
the  ascent  steady  and  gentle. 
Beyond,  galloping  up  a  short 
hill  I  stood  upon  the  ridge 
pole  of  the  American  conti 
nent,  then  the  dividing  line 
between  Kansas  and  Utah. 
Just  before  me  gushed  a 
spring  whose  waters  feed  the 
Just  behind,  were  ice-fringed  rivulets 


PIKE'S   PEAK.  FROM  FORTY  MILES  NORTHEAST. 


Colorado  of  the  Pacific, 
flowing  to  the  Atlantic. 

My  road  crossed  the  summit  through  a  gap  between  snow-topped 
mountains  two  thousand  feet  high.  Below  me  both  on  the  east 
and  on  the  west  were  spread  vast  troughs  and  trenches  of  spruce- 
pine  forest.  Descending  the  westward  slope  I  found  the  pines  of 
deeper  green,  perhaps  from  their  northern  exposure. 

Breckinridge,  with  sixty  or  seventy  log  houses,  rested  in  the 
eternal  shadow  of  tall  peaks  containing  snow-drifts.fifty  feet  deep, 
which  the  oldest  trappers  and  Indians  had  never  known  to  melt 
entirely  away.  Still,  turnips,  beets,  and  lettuce  were  produced  in 
the  little  valley  during  the  short  summers.  I  found  hay  selling 
at  from  five  to  ten  cents  per  pound.  Breckinridge,  French's, 
Georgia,  and  neighboring  gulches  had  yielded  gold  abundantly. 

My  most  memorable  summer  excursion  was  made  with  three 
friends,  from  Denver  to  the  summit  of  Pike's  Peak.  Before  starting 
we  heard  appalling  reports  about  the  difficulties  of  the  ascent. 
Many  attempting  it  had  failed  to  reach  the  crest.  One  robust 
gentleman  became  delirious  from  the  light  atmosphere  and  fatigue. 
Another  who  had  climbed  Orizaba,  when  five  hundred  feet  below 
the  top  of  Pike's  Peak  was  so  utterly  exhausted  that  he  returned 
without  going  further.  But  these  failures  together  with  some 


I860.]      THE    INTERESTING    MONUMENT    REGION.  311 

ridicule  and  many  gloomy  prophecies  only  made  the  ladies  of  our 
party  the  more  anxious  to  undertake  the  journey. 


SCENE   IN   THE   MONUMENT   REGION. 

As  we  rode  out  from  Denver,  eighty  miles  southward  the  Peak, 
dim  and  grand,  lifted  its  wrinkled  brow  from  the  horizon.  The 
first  evening  found  us  in  the  curious  Monument  Region.  Here 
among  pleasant  groves  of  little  pines  are  scattered  upright  shafts 
and  masses  of  crumbling  granite  and  limestone,  curiously  worn 
and  sculptured  by  wind  and  water.  They  extend  for  thirty 
miles;  some  crowning  hills  like  great  temples  built  by  human 
hands.  One  is  called  Table  Rock,  another  Castle  Rock,  a  third 
Signal  Hill,  from  signal  fires  which  Indians  used  to  kindle  upon  it. 

Capitol  Rock,  upon  a  little  eminence,  assumes  the  form  of  a 
strong  fortress,  with  frowning  walls  and  arched  gateway.  Further 
south,  on  Monument  creek,  the  pillars  and  statues  rise  to  the 
hight  of  fifteen  or  twenty  feet,  in  differing  colors  and  fantastic 
shapes.  Pagan  idols,  cardinals  and  friars,  picturesque  little  cot 
tages,  Siamese  twins,  and  almost  numberless  images  of  the  palpa 
ble  and  familiar  may  be  detected  among  them.  But  most  have 
the  form  of  monumental  stones.  Standing  thickly  over  hundreds 
of  acres,  in  the  midst  of  the  pines,  they  make  the  spectator  fancy 
himself  in  Greenwood,  Mount  Auburn,  Spring  Grove,  or  some 
other  great  American  cemetery. 


312 


MUSIC    IN    UNDERGROUND    CHAMBERS. 


[1860. 


Two  miles  from  Colorado  City  they  culminate  m  huge  walla 
known  as  the  Gateway  to  the  Garden  of  the  Gods.  Enormous 
portals  of  red  rock  rise  almost  perpendicularly  for  three  hundred 
feet  with  tenacious  cedars  clinging  to  their  sides.  On  the  summit, 
where  no  human  foot  has  trodden,  eagles  build  their  nests. 

Through  this  natural  gateway  we  passed  into  a  large  inclosure 
walled  in  by  mountains  on  every  side — indeed  a  garden  for  the 
gods.  One  vast  rock  has  a  cave  eight  feet  by  sixty  and  about 
seventy  in  hight.  Its  walla  are  smooth  and  seamless. 

We  entered  by  the  only  aperture,  barely  large  enough  for  an 
adult  to  crawl  through.  Within  we  struck  a  light  to  view  the 
weird  picture.  For  an  hour  the  singers  of  our  party  made  the 
walls  echo  with  the  strains  of  sacred  music,  always  most  impres 
sive  in  underground  chambers. 

After  we  emerged,  Pike's  Peak  rose  clear  and  distinct,  with  two 
little  spots  of  snow  near  the  summit,  and  a  faint  line  like  a  trail  or 
foot-path  down  the  side  from  the  crest  to  the  base. 

The  picturesque 
hills  around  us 
abounded  in  game. 
A  few  days  be- 
fore  an  enthusiastic 
sportsman  wound 
ed  a  juvenile  griz 
zly,  when  the 
mother  bear  ap 
peared  uninvited, 
compelling  him  to 
climb  a  tree  so 
suddenly  that  he 
dropped  his  gun, 
and  was  impris 
oned  in  the  branch 
es  for  several  hours.  At  last  friends  came  to  his  rescue  and  drove 
bruin  away. 

We  spent  the  night  at  Colorado  City  then  containing  a  hundred 

log  houses. 


GATEWAY  TO  GARDEN  OF  THE  GODS. 


I860.]  STAKTING    UP    THE    MOUNTAINS.  313 


CHAPTER    XXVII. 

THE  distance  from  Colorado  to  the  summit  of  Pike's  Peak,  aa 
the  bird  flies,  is  five  miles ;  by  the  nearest  practicable  route  about 
fifteen.  A  Colorado  gentleman  who  had  once  made  the  trip  be* 
came  our  guide,  philosopher,  and  comrade. 

Early  in  the  morning  escorted  by  a  party  of  friends  we  rode  to 
the  Fontaine  qui  Bouille,  stopping  for  copious  draughts  of  that  in 
vigorating  water.  A  mile  further  the  cany  on  became  impractic 
able  for  vehicles ;  so  the  carriage  turned  back  and  we  began  our 
pedestrian  journey, 

On  and  up,  where  Nature's  heart 
Beats  strong  amid  the  hills.' 

Like  Denver  and  Golden  City  our  starting-point  was  higher 
above  sea-level  than  the  summit  of  Mount  Washington. 

Six  athletic  miners,  ranch-men  and  carpenters  who  chanced  to  be 
going  up  that  morning,  led  the  caravan.  Our  own  party  of  five,  in 
single  file,  brought  up  the  rear.  We  were  each  provided  with  a 
stout  cane  and  a  drinking  cup.  The  ladies  were  in  bloomer 
costume,  with  broad-rimmed  hats,  and  light  satchels  suspended  from 
their  belts.  The  unhappy  trio  of  men,  in  thick  boots  and  heavy 
woolen  shirts,  without  coats  or  waistcoats,  carried  revolvers,  knives 
and  hatchets,  and  bent  under  their  heavy  packs  of  provisions  and 
blankets.  My  own  weighed  twenty-seven  pounds ;  and  I  thought 
it  fully  ttwemty-seyen  hundred  before  the  wearying  journey  was 
ended. 

The  steep  narrow  canyon,  un-marked  by  any  trail,  abounded  in 
smooth  precipitous  rocks,  impassable  for  any  quadruped  less 
agile  than  a  mountain  goat  Along  the  bottom  of  the  gorge,  a 


314 


SCENES    OF    PICTURESQUE    BEAUTY. 


[1860. 


brook  leaped  and  plashed  over  the  rocks  in  a  stream  of  silver. 
The  overlooking  hills  were  thickly  studded  with  shrubs  of  oak  and 


tall  trees  of  pine-, 
spruce  and  fi;. 
Wild  cherries, 
hops  and  cluster 
ing  purple  berries 
grew  in  profusion. 
The  valley 
abounds  in  gems 

of  beauty — 'pocket  editions  of  poetry  in  velvet  and  gold.' 
We  made  our  noon  camp  at  one  of  these  which  would  cause  the 
heart  of  an  artist  to  sing  for  joy.  The  brook,  first  appearing 
in  view  under  a  natural  stone  bridge  above  us,  comes  tumbling 


CLIMBING  PIKE'S  PEAK. 


I860.]       NATURE'S  TERRIBLE  CONVULSIONS.  315 

down  in  a  cascade  of  snow-white  foam,  torn  into  sparkling 
fringes  by  the  jutting  rocks,  and  is  lost  among  the  huge  bowlders 
at  our  feet.  An  irregular  mass  of  granite  rises  upon  one  side 
more  than  a  hundred  feet;  and  on  either  bank,  the  singing 
waters  are  shaded  by  tall  pines  and  blue-tipped  firs.  Between 
and  beyond  their  dark  branches,  a  gray,  cone-shaped  hill,  bare 
of  tree  or  shrub,  stands  in  the  background  against  a  won 
derfully  blue  and  pellucid  sky.  I  never  felt  the  utter  poverty  of 
descriptive  language  until  I  gazed  upon  that  matchless  picture. 

A  lively  shower  soon  recalled  us  to  the  practical,  when  it  was  dis 
covered  that  our  whisky  through  defective  corking  had  escaped  from 
the  bottles.  It  might  prove  a  serious  loss  in  case  of  great  exhaust 
ion  ;  but  after  boiling  our  tin  cups  of  tea  by  a  fire  of  branches,  we 
started  on. 

The  afternoon  climb  was  still  along  the  canyon,  sinking  knee- 
deep  into  the  gravelly  hill,  clutching  desperately  at  friendly 
bushes  to  keep  from  falling  backward,  and  toiling  upon  hands  and 
knees  over  wet  slippery  rocks. 

At  four  o'clock,  cold,  foot-sore  and  weary,  we  encamped  where 
our  advance  party  had  already  halted.  Supper  was  prepared  and 
eaten  before  a  glorious  fire  of  tree  trunks.  Then,  for  two  hours, 
the  deep  woods  resounded  with  laughter  and  song.  But  long 
before  midnight  we  all  slept,  watched  by  the  sentinel  stars  'which 
haste  not,  nor  rest  not,  but  shine  on  forever.' 

On  the  second  morning  we  made  hasty  toilets  with  the  brook 
for  a  mirror,  and  consumed  our  fried  pork,  biscuit  and  cups  of  tea 
while  sitting  upon  logs.  We  continued  through  two  rugged 
canyons,  with  a  smooth,  grassy  valley  between. 

Many  of  the  mountains  are  streaked  with  broad  bare  tracks,  left 
by  land-slides.  Vast  masses  of  disintegrating  granite  are  piled 
upon  each  other  in  dreary  wastes.  One  huge  stone  chair  overlooks 
a  little  kingdom  of  mountain  and  valley ;  but  the  Titan  who  sat 
upon  it  was  long  ago  dethroned  in  one  of  Nature's  terrible  convul 
sions,  which  uprooted  hills  and  scattered  gigantic  bowlders  like 
pebbles. 

The  burdens  already  hung  like  millstones  about  our  necks. 
I  began  to  comprehend  the  emotions  of  a  pack  mule ;  and  to 
wonder  whether  a  man  who  would  carry  twenty-seven  pounds  of 


316  DISMAL    AND    DREARY    SITUATION.  [1860. 

blankets  up  Pike's  Peak,  did  not  belong  to  the  long-eared  species 
himself. 

A  cold  rain  set  in ;  and  at  noon,  drenched  and  shivering,  we 
encamped  under  a  shelving  rock.  We  kindled  a  fire  and  dined 
upon  a  rabbit,  which  had  surrendered  unconditionally  to  a 
revolver. 

The  only  true  philosophy  of  getting  wet  is  to  get  soaked. 
Moist  clothing  brings  a  hesitating  discomfort ;  but  in  feeling  that 
every  thread  is  drenched,  there  is  a  desperate  satisfaction.  So  we 
went  into  the  driving  rain  and  feasted  for  an  hour  upon  ripe 
raspberries,  which  grew  so  abundantly  that  one  could  satisfy  his 
appetite  without  moving.  Then  we  returned  to  camp  thoroughly 
saturated,  and  throughout  the  afternoon  made  sorry  essays  at  read 
ing  and  whist  playing. 

Early  in  the  evening  our  robust  Colorado  friends,  who  had  gone 
a  mile  beyond  us,  passed  by  on  their  return,  having  given  up  the 
trip  as  too  severe. 

We  gathered  an  ample  supply  of  wood.  The  dead  pines,  often 
six  inches  in  diameter  and  thirty  feet  high,  were  easily  overturned, 
their  brittle  roots  snapping  like  pipe-stems.  As  the  fire  was  our 
only  solace,  we  piled  on  logs  until  the  red  flames  leaped  high  and 
chased  the  thick  darkness  away. 

Four  of  us  huddled  under  the  rock,  while  the  fifth,  as  the  least 
of  two  evils,  sat  grimly  in  the  open  air,  wrapped  in  his  blanket  and 
brooding  upon  destiny.  The  rain  became  very  violent,  and  the 
natural  roof,  sloping  unfortunately  in  the  wrong  direction,  showered 
the  water  upon  us  in  melancholy  profusion. 

After  many  dismal  jests  about  our  dreary  situation,  one  by  one 
my  co-tenants  dropped  asleep.  My  own  latest  recollection  of  that 
Procrustean  bed  was  at  eleven  o'clock,  when  I  was  wooing  the 
"drowsy  god,  with  my  legs  in  a  mud  puddle,  a  sharp  rock  piercing 
my  ribs,  and  a  stream  of  water  pouring  down  my  back. 

At  midnight  my  friends  arose — for  the  air  had  grown  very 
chill — and  sought  our  great  log  fire.  After  enjoying  for  a  few 
minutes  the  comfort  of  its  red  flames — a  comfort  mitigated  by  the 
pelting  rain — wrapping  myself  again  in  a  wet  blanket,  and  creep 
ing  as  far  as  possible  under  the  rock,  I  soon  slept  soundly.  At  day 
light,  when  I  awoke,  they  were  still  out  in  the  driving  rain,  sit- 


I860.] 


CLOUDS  BREAKING  ONCE  MORE. 


317 


ting  before  the  flames  in  gloomy  contemplation,  like  Marius  amid 
the  ruins. 

On  the  third  morning  we  breakfasted  morosely,  sore  and  stiff  in 
every  joint.     Less  than  half  the  journey  was  accomplished,  and 


we  had  but  one  day's 
provisions      remaining. 
One  of   the  ladies  had 
worn  through  the  soles 
of  her  shoes  in  several 
places,   and  both   were 
wet,    chilled     and    ex 
hausted  ;  but  they  would  not  for  a  moment  entertain  the  idea  of 
turning  back. 

By  seven  o'clock  we  are  again  climbing  the  slippery  rocks. 
21 


UNDER  THE  SHELVING  ROCK. 


318  FEARS    OF    FEVER    AND    DELIRIUM.  [1860. 

The  rain  ceases;  the  breaking  clouds  once  more  turn  forth  their 
silver  linings, 

'And  genial  Morn  appears, 
Like  pensive  Beauty,  smiling  through  her  tears.' 

Behind,  at  our  feet,  stretches  an  ocean  of  pure  white  cloud  with 
mountain  summits  dotting  its  vast  surface  in  islands  of  purple 
and  emerald.  Before,  towers  the  stupendous  peak. 

In  the  genial  sunlight  we  begin  to  feel  the  comfort  of  dry 
clothing,  for  the  first  time  in  twenty-four  hours,  and  press  cheerily 
on.  The  hills,  swept  for  miles  and  miles  by  vast  conflagrations,  are 
black,  and  bristling  with  tall  dead  trunks  of  pine  and  fir,  like  the 
multitude  of  masts  in  a  great  harbor.  The  valleys  are  shaded  by 
graceful  aspens,  whose  leaves  quiver  in  the  still  air ;  and  carpeted 
by  luxuriant  grass,  rising  to  our  chins  and  variegated  with  flowers 
of  pink  and  white,  blue  and  purple.  Fallen  tree-trunks  abound, 
held  by  their  broken  limbs  three  or  four  feet  above  the  ground. 
Climbing  over  them  is  very  laborious,  and  tears  to  shreds  the 
meager  skirts  of  the  ladies.  The  bloomer  costume  is  better  than 
full  drapery  ;  but  for  this  trip  women  should  don  trousers. 

After  five  hours  of  climbing  slippery  rocks,  we  dine  luxuri 
ously  in  a  raspberry  patch,  drinking  tea  from  our  cups  and  water 
from  a  spring. 

Thus  far  our  journey  has  been  only  among  foot-hills.  Now  we 
reach  the  base  of  the  Peak  itself,  and  climb  wearily  up  the  rocky 
canyon  which  extends  from  base  to  summit.  The  thin  air  makes 
breathing  very  difficult. 

At  five  o'clock  we  encamped,  utterly  exhausted.  With  wild 
eyes  and  flushed  faces,  which  excited  fears  of  fever  and  delirium, 
the  ladies  fell  asleep  the  instant  we  stopped ;  and  one  of  the 
masculines  also  sank  upon  the  ground.  Two  of  us  started  for 
water  down  to  the  stream-bed  ten  yards  distant,  but  found  it 
dry  as  Sahara.  So  we  limped  down  the  gorge  for  half  a  mile,  and 
in  more  than  an  hour  reached  camp  again,  each  bearing  two  cups. 
My  companion  had  barely  strength  to  articulate  that  he  would 
only  repeat  the  walk  to  save  his  dearest  friend  from  dying;  I 
succeeded  in  gasping  out  an  injunction  to  take  precious  care  of  the 
costly  fluid,  and  we  lay  down  utterly  exhausted. 


I860.]  ALL    VEGETATION    LEFT    BEHIND.  319 

But  the  strong  tea,  as  usual,  revived  us  all ;  and  we  started  on 
just  as  the  clouds  broke,  revealing  the  mountains  and  vast  green 
prairies  far  behind  us — a  dream  of  beauty. 

Two  of  the  party  suddenly  yielded  to  illness,  accompanied  by 
vomiting  fits ;  and  reaching  the  verge  of  vegetation  we  camped  for 
-the  night.  As  we  rolled  ourselves  in  blankets  upon  the  ground 
beside  our  roaring  fire,  another  shower  drenched  us,  and  then 
turned  to  hail.  At  nine  o'clock  our  guide  reaped  the  harvest  of 
his  exposure  and  fatigue  in  a  distressing  rheumatism,  which  drove 
him  from  his  earth-bed  and  held  him  writhing  in  pain  during  the 
night,  but  disappeared  with  daylight's  return. 

On  the  fourth  morning  ice  was  lying  thick  about  our  camp. 
All  the  party  wore  a  lean  and  hungry  look ;  but  our  scanty  larder 
allowed  to  each,  only  a  little  biscuit,  a  bit  of  meat  as  large  as  a 
silver  dollar,  and  ample  draughts  of  tea.  At  five  o'clock  we  left 
our  packs  behind  and  resumed  the  march. 

In  climbing  Mount  Washington,  the  vegetation  grades  down 
regularly  from  tall  pines  to  stunted  cedar  shrubs  with  trunks  five 
or  six  inches  thick,  and  branches  not  more  than  three  feet  high, 
running  along  the  ground  like  grape-vines.  Pike's  Peak  Affords  a 
sharp  contrast.  We  started  in  a  dense  forest  of  pines  and  firs ; 
but  vegetation  ceases  so  abruptly  that  in  ten  minutes  we  stood 
upon  the  open,  barren  mountain  side,  with  no  green  thing  about 
us  except  a  few  flowers,  and  beds  of  velvety  grass  among  the 
rocks. 

The  remainder  of  the  ascent  is  very  abrupt.  We  followed  the 
line  which  in  the  distance  had  appeared  like  a  path,  but  now 
proved  a  gaping  gorge  a  mile  in  width. 

The  summit  seemed  very  near ;  but  we  toiled  on  and  on  for  hours, 
up  the  sharp  hight.  The  thin  air  made  it  impossible  to  go  more  than 
a  hundred  feet  without  pausing  for  breath ;  but  amid  the  grand 
scenery  we  forgot  our  fatigue  and  remembered  our  weariness  no 
more.  The  ladies,  imbued  with  new  life,  could  only  find  expres 
sion  in  singing  the  old  hymn : 

*  This  is  the  way  I  long  have  sought, 
And  mourned  because  I  found  it  not.' 

Tufts  of  wool  indicated  the  haunts  of  the  mountain  sheep — 


320  ON    THE    CKEST    AT    LAST.  [1860. 

an  animal  of  unequaled  agility.  He  leaps  incredible  dis 
tances  down  the  rocks,  and  is  even  reputed  to  strike  upon  his 
broad  horns  which  receive  the  most  violent  concussion  without 
injury. 

The  sky  assumed  a  deeper  and  richer  blue ;  and  the  fields  of 
snow  and  ice  began  to  enlarge.  Even  here,  hundreds  of  tulip- 
shaped  blossoms  of  faint  yellow  mingled  with  purple,  opened  their 
meek  eyes  beside  the  freshly-fallen  snow !  It  was  worth  all  our 
toil  to  see  the  cheek  of  June,  with  its  purple  flush,  nestle  among 
the  silver  locks  of  December. 

Finally  the  last  flower  and  blade  of  grass  were  left  behind,  and 
only  rocks  and  snow  ahead.  It  became  difficult  to  avoid  falling 
asleep  during  our  brief  pauses. 

Just  below  the  top  we  turned  southward  to  look  down  a  tremen 
dous  chasm  known  as  the  '  Crater.'  It  is  half  a  mile  wide,  nearly 
circular,  inclosed  by  abrupt  walls  of  rock,  and  fully  twelve 
hundred  feet  deep.  Creeping  to  the  verge  of  the  dizzy  hight, 
while  our  comrades  clung  to  us  with  desperate  clasp  to  save  us 
from  tumbling  over,  we  dislodged  huge  rocks  into  the  abyss. 
Down  they  leaped,  bounding  from  ledge  to  ledge,  striking  sparks 
and  scattering  showers  of  fire,  with  great  crash  and  roar  that 
came  rolling  up  to  us  like  peals  of  thunder,  long  after  they  were 
out  of  sight. 

One  overhanging  rock  affords  to  the  spectator,  lying  flat  upon 
his  face,  an  excellent  view  of  the  yawning  gulf,  though  its 
uncomfortable  trembling  disquiets  his  nerves.  At  last,  just  before 
noon,  passing  two  banks  of  snow  which  have  lain  un-melted  for 
years,  perhaps  for  centuries,  we  stood  on  the  highest  point  of 
Pike's  Peak,  thirteen  thousand  four  hundred  feet  above  sea-level. 
The  ladies  of  our  party — one  a  native  of  Boston,  the  other  of 
Derry,  K  H. — were  the  first  of  their  sex  who  ever  set  foot  upon 
the  summit. 

Pike's  Peak  was  named  in  honor  of  General  Zebulon  M.  Pike, 
a  gallant  young  officer,  who  discovered  and  ascended  it  in  1806 
while  at  the  head  of  an  exploring  expedition  sent  by  Jefferson's 
administration.  A  few  years  later,  before  he  had  reached  the 
prime  of  life,  he  fell  in  defense  of  his  country's  flag,  at  the  battle 
of  Toronto. 


I860.] 


AN    INDESCRIBABLY    GRAND    VIEW. 


321 


The  summit  embraces  about  fifty  acres.  It  is  oblong,  and 
nearly  level,  composed  wholly  of  angular  slabs  and  blocks  of 
coarse  disintegrating  granite.  We  found  fresh  snow  |everal 
inches  deep  in  the  interstices,  but  the  August  sun  had  melted  it 
all  from  the  surface. 

We  were  fortunate  in  having  a  clear  day  which  gave  us  the 
view  in  its  full  sublimity.  Eastward  for  a  hundred  miles,  our  eyes 


OX   THE   SUMMIT. 


wandered  over  dim,  dreamy 
prairies,  spotted  by  dark  shadows 
of  the  clouds,  and  the  deeper 
green  of  the  pineries;  intersected 
by  faint,  gray  lines  of  road,  and 
emerald  threads  of  timber  along 

the  streams;  and  banded  on  the  far   horizon  with  a  girdle  of 

gold. 

At  our  feet,  below  the  now  insignificant  mountains  up  which  we 

had  toiled,  stood  Colorado,  a  confused  city  of  Liliputs ;  but  with 

the  aid  of  glasses  we  could  distinctly  see  its  buildings  and  our 

own  carriage,  with  a  man  standing  near  it. 

Further  south  swept   the  green   timbers  of  the   Fontaine  qui 

Bouille,  the  Arkansas  and  the  Huerfano ;  and  then  rose  the  blue 

Spanish  Peaks  of  New  Mexico  a  hundred  miles  distant.     Eight  or 


322        FOUR  TERRITORIES  —  FOUR  GREAT  RIVERS.    [1860. 

ten  miles  away,  two  little  gems  of  lakes  were  set  among  the  rugged 
mountains,  holding  shadows  of  the  rocks  and  pines  in  their 
transparent  waters.  Far  beyond,  a  group  of  tiny  lakelets,  *  eyes 
of  the  landscape/  glittered  and  sparkled  in  their  dark  surroundings 
like  a  cluster  of  stars. 

Toward  the  north  we  could  trace  the  timbers  of  the  Platte  for 
seventy  miles,  almost  to  Denver. 

To  the  west,  the  South  Park,  and  other  amphitheaters  of  rich 
floral  beauty — gardens  amid  the  utter  desolation  of  the  mountains 
— were  spread  thousands  of  feet  below  us ;  and  beyond,  peak  upon 
peak,  until  the  pure  white  wall  of  the  Snowy  Range  rose  to  the 
infinite  blue  of  the  sky. 

North,  south  and  west  swept  one  vast  wilderness  of  mountains, 
of  diverse  forms  and  mingling  colors,  with  clouds  of  fleecy  white 
sailing  airily  among  their  scarred  and  wrinkled  summits. 

We  looked  upon  four  Territories  of  the  Union — Kansas, 
Nebraska,  Utah  and  New  Mexico ;  and  viewed  regions  watered  by 
four  great  rivers  of  the  continent — the  Platte,  Arkansas,  Eio 
Grande  and  Colorado,  tributaries  respectively  of  the  Missouri, 
the  Mississippi,  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  and  the  Gulf  of  California. 

Upon  the  north  side  of  the  Peak,  a  colossal  plowshare  seems  to 
have  been  driven  fiercely  down  from  the  summit  to  the  base,  its 
gaping  farrow  visible  seventy  miles  away,  and  deep  enough  in 
itself  to  bury  a  mountain  of  considerable  pretension.  Such 
enormous  chasms  must  the  armies  of  the  Almighty  have  left  in 
heaven  when,  to  overwhelm  Lucifer  and  his  companions, 

1  From  their  foundations  loosening  to  and  fro, 
They  plucked  the  seated  hills  with  all  their  load, 
Rocks,  waters,  woods,  and  by  the  shaggy  tops 
Uplifting,  bore  them  in  their  hands.' 

At  the  gorge's  head,  some  enterprising  fellow  had  posted  a  raiL 
way  handbill,  which  with  finger  pointing  directly  down  the  gulf, 
asserted  in  glaring  capitals:  .'Shortest  and  best  Route  to  the  East/ 

It  seemed  impossible  to  grow  weary  of  the  wonderful  picture ; 
but  my  companions,  though  wrapped  in  heavy  blankets,  were 
shivering  with  the  cold.  So  we  iced  and  drank  a  bottle  of 
champagne  which  a  Colorado  friend  had  thrust  into  one  of  the 


1860.J  PROVISIONS    ALARMINGLY    SCARCE..  323 

packs ;  and  then  like  more  ambitious  tourists,  placed  a  record  in 
the  empty  bottle,  which  was  carefully  re-corked  and  buried  under 
a  pile  of  stones. 

We  spent  a  few  minutes  in  the  school-boy  pastime  of  snow 
balling.  Then,  after  two  hours  upon  the  summit,  we  reluctantly 
commenced  the  descent ;  for  living  without  eating  was  becoming  a 
critical  experiment. 

Our  guide,  weakened  by  the  hard  journey,  missed  his  foothold, 
falling  upon  a  jagged  rock.  Fortunately  the  metallic  case  of  his 
spy -glass  saved  him  from  a  fractured  rib ;  and  after  lying  upon  the 
rocks  for  a  few  minutes,  he  came  limping  down,  with  the  rest. 
.  In  descending,  the  rarity  of  the  atmosphere  did  not  retard  us, 
but  we  found  climbing  down  quite  as  exhausting  as  climbing  up ; 
and  a  raspberry  diet  is  not  invigorating..  At  five  o'clock  we 
reached  the  last  night's  camp,  glad  to  break  our  twelve  hours'  fast 
with  ample  cups  of  tea  and  homeopathic,  fragments  of  bread 
and  meat. 

After  a  brief  halt  we  hastened  on  down  the  ledges  and  over  the 
tree-trunks.  When  we  sat  upon  a  log  for  a  little  rest,  one  of  the 
ladies  appeared  utterly  exhausted.  We  asked  if  we  should  not 
camp  until  morning  that  she  might  recruit?  She  could  not 
articulate  a  single  word ;  but  shook  her  head  with  indignant  vigor. 
Again  pressing  on,  an  hour  later  we  kindled  a  fire,  went  to  bed 
or  rather  to  blanket,  and  were  instantly  asleep. 

On  the  fifth  morning  when  we  awoke,  only  that  expressive 
colloqualism  which  the  fire  companies  have  added  to  the  verna 
cular  could  describe  our  condition.  We  were  '  played  out.'  We 
swallowed  our  last  provisions — a  morsel  of  meat  and  a  table- 
spoonful  of  crumbs  each.  The  unfailing  tea  measureably  restored 
us ;  but  in  our  exigency  we  would  gladly  have  exchanged  it  for 
the  cup  which  cheers  and  does  inebriate. 

We  descended  by  a  new  route  over  hill-sides  crossed  and  re- 
crossed  by  tracks  of  the  grizzly  bear,  and  through  canyons  sur 
prising  us  constantly  with  a  new  wealth  of  beauty  which  we  were 
hardly  in  condition  to  appreciate. 

After  journeying  five  or  six  hours,  we  experienced,  not  the  gnaw- 
ings  of  hunger,  but  that  irresistible  faintness  which  the  Irishman  so 
exactly  described  as  *  a  sense  of  goneness.'  Endeavors  'to  talk  and 


324  EFFECTS    OF    THE    FIVE-DAYS*    TRIP.  [1860. 

think  of  other  matters  were  fruitless ;  the  '  odorous  ghosts  of  well 
remembered  dinners  '  would  stalk  unbidden  through  the  halls  of 
memory ;  and  in  vain  we  sought  to 

1  Cloy  the  hungry  edge  of  appetite 
By  bare  imagination  of  a  feast.' 

At  noon  we  halted  by  the  cascade  which  had  so  enchanted  us 
on  our  first  day's  march,  and  slept  for  an  hour  under  the  shading 
pines.  Then  we  shouldered  our  packs  for  the  last  time,  and 
hobbled  on  down  the  canyon. 

At  four  o'clock  our  guide,  who  was  a  few  yards  in  advance,  sud 
denly  came  upon  our  waiting  carriage.  Now  that  the  strain  was 
over  the  nerves  of  the  ladies  instantly  relaxed.  One  received  the 
intelligence  with  a  shower  of  tears,  the  other  with  hysteric  laugh 
ter.  In  a  moment  we  were  surrounded  by  Colorado  City  friends 
who,  alarmed  at  our  protracted  absence,  were  out  in  several  parties 
armed  with  stimulants  and  provisions,  searching  for  us  among  the 
foot-hills. 

Two  hours  later  we  reached  the  town.  My  companions  with 
haggard  cheeks  and  blood-shot  eyes  seemed  but  shadowy  sugges 
tions  of  their  former  selves.  Each  of  the  ladies  had  lost  just  eight 
pounds  of  flesh  in  less  than  five  days.  One,  whose  shoes  were  cut 
through  by  sharp  rocks  early  on  the  journey,  had  been  walking 
for  three  days  with  portions  of  her  bare  foot  striking  upon  the 
stones,  gravel  and  snow. 

We  were  soon  clothed  and  in  our  right  minds,  and  eating  heart 
ily.  No  lasting  inconvenience  was  experienced  from  the  trip, 
except  the  most  ravenous  and  uncompromising  hunger,  which  con 
tinued  at  intervals  for  the  next  two  weeks.  If  *  he  is  well  paid 
who  is  well  satisfied '  the  journey  was  far  the  most  remunerative  any 
of  us  had  ever  taken. 

On  the  sixth  of  November  I  left  Denver  for  '  the  States.'  Our 
two  coaches  each  contained  six  passengers,  including  successful 
explorers  and  miners,  a  prospector  from  Georgia,  a  banker  from 
Atchison,  a  French-and-Indian  trader  from  Leavenworth,  and  a 
lady  whose  husband  had  recently  died  in  Denver,  and  who  with 
two  fatherless  children  was  returning  to  her  New  York  home.  Ten 
days  before,  she  was  lying  dangerously  ill  with  typhoid  fever,  her 


I860.] 


GOOD  TREATMENT  FOR  INVALIDS. 


825 


face  deathly  pale  and  a  flush,  purple  as  ripe  grapes,  on  each  cheek. 
At  starting  she  was  still  an  invalid,  and  the  ride  of  the  first  day 
and  night  left  her  hardly  able  to  sit  up.  But  in  the  inspiring, 
pure  air  of  the  plains  she  rallied,  gained  an  enormous  appetite;  and 
before  the  end  of  the  trying  six  days  and  nights  her  cheeks  again 
wore  the  bloom  of  health.  Another  passenger  seventy  years  old 
was  also  an  invalid.  For  the  first  two  days  extreme  weakness 
compelled  him  to  have  meals  brought  to  the  coach.  But  he  too 
gained  wonderful  strength  before  reaching  the  river. 

During  the  previous  summer  a  pony  express  had  been  estab 
lished  from  the  Missouri  to  the  Pacific.     It  was  splendidly  run, 
sometimes  carrying  let 
ters  from  Atchison   to 
Sacramento  (about  two 
thousand  miles)  in  eight 
days.    Once  these  mod 
ern  Centaurs  conveyed 
dispatches  from  St.  Jo 
seph     to    Denver    (six 
hundred  and  twenty-five 
miles)  in  two  days  and 
twenty-one  hours.     The 
last  ten  miles  was  accom 
plished     in     thirty-one 
minutes. 

The  posts  were  twen 
ty-five  miles  apart,  and  the  steeds  small,  fleet,  hardy  Indian  horses. 
The  rider  kept  his  pony  on  the  full  run,  and  when  he  reached  a 
new  station — whatever  the  hour  of  day  or  night — another  messen 
ger,  ready  mounted  and  waiting,  took  the  little  mail-sack,  struck 
spurs  into  his  steed,  and  was  off  like  the  wind. 

Is  there  any  thing  new  under  the  sun  ?  Marco  Polo  relates  that 
in  the  thirteenth  century  the  great  Khan  of  Tartary  and  China 
had  post-stations  ( twenty-five  miles  apart?  and  stations  for  foot 
carriers  three  miles  apart,  on  the  chief  routes  through  his  domin 
ions.  Says  that  fascinating  writer : 


LINCOLN   IS   ELECTED. 


'  His  messengers  sometimes  ride  three  hundred  miles  in  one  day  and  night.     They 


826        THE  TRANS-CONTINENTAL  PONY  EXPRESS.    [1860. 

gallop  at  full  speed  from  one  station  to  the  next,  where  they  find  two  other  horses 
fresh  and  ready  harnessed ;  and  continue  on  with  the  same  rapidity.  They  stop  not 
an  instant  day  nor  night  and  are  thus  enabled  to  bring  news  in  so  short  a  period.' 

But  the  pony  express  was  new  on  our  continent ;  and  was  such  a 
forerunner  of  the  great  railway  that  it  excited  quite  an  enthusiasm. 
The  St.  Joseph  Democrat  thus  discoursed  of  it : 

1  Take  down  your  map  and  trace  his  foot-prints  from  St.  Joseph  on  the  Missouri  to 
San  Francisco  on  the  Golden  Horn — from  the  last  locomotive  to  the  first  steamship — 
two  thousand  miles — more  than  half  across  our  boundless  continent.  Through  Kan 
sas,  through  Nebraska,  by  Fort  Kearney,  along  the  Platte,  by  Fort  Laramie,  past  the 
Buttes,  over  the  Rocky  Mountains,  through  canyons,  along  the  steep  defiles — Utah, 
Fort  Bridger,  Salt  Lake  City — he  witches  Brigham  with  his  swift  ponyship.  Through 
valleys,  along  grassy  slopes,  into  the  snow,  into  the  sand,  faster  than  Thor's  Thialfi ; 
away  they  go  I  rider  and  horse,  did  you  see  them  ?  They  are  in  California,  leaping  over 
its  golden  hills,  treading  its  busy  streets.  The  courser  has  unrolled  the  great  American 
panorama,  and  allowed  us  to  glance  at  the  future  home  of  a  hundred  millions  of  people. 
He  has  put  a  girdle  round  the  earth  in  forty  minutes.  Verily  his  riding  is  like  the 
riding  of  the  son  of  Nimshi,  for  he  rideth  furiously.  Take  out  your  watch.  We  are 
eight  days  from  New  York,  eighteen  days  from  London.  The  race  is  to  the  swift.' 

One  November  midnight,  upon  the  plains,  the  little  pony  dashed 
by  us  on  a  full  run. 

'  What's  the  news  ?'  shouted  our  driver. 

'Lincoln  elected!  New  York  gives  him  fifty  thousand  major< 
ity !'  came  back  the  cry  through  the  darkness. 

It  woke  up  all  our  republicans  who  sent  forth  cheer  upon  cheer, 
while  the  democrats  were  sure  that  it  must  be  a  hoax. 

When  we  reached  St.  Joseph  there  was  some  excitement ;  and 
Jeff  Thompson,  ex-mayor  of  the  city,  had  issued  a  flaming  procla 
mation  urging  the  people  to  resist  the  c  northern  minions.7  After 
ward  as  a  guerrilla  captain  in  southern  Missouri  and  Arkansas  he 
found  ample  opportunity  for  all  the  fighting  he  wanted. 

St.  Joseph,  already  containing  ten  thousand  people,  though  in  a 
slave  State  had  given  twice  as  many  votes  for  Lincoln  as  for  Breck* 
inridge ;  and  more  than  forty  thousand  copies  of  '  Helper's  Im« 
pending  Crisis  '  had  been  disposed  of  by  its  leading  book-seller. 

Now  the  Crisis  was  indeed  impending ;  and  for  several  years 
toy  western  wanderings  were  interrupted. 


1865.]  STARTING    WESTWARD    AGAIN. 


CHAPTER    XXVIII. 

THERE  is  a  permanent  westerly  current  in  our  social  and  politi 
cal  atmosphere  like  that  which  carries  westward  all  material  atoms 
after  they  rise  to  a  certain  hight.  In  1865  I  found  myself  again 
borne  along  upon  it.  The  mail  companies  had  proffered  to  the 
Hon,  Schuyler  Colfax,  speaker  of  the  national  House  of  Kepresen- 
tatives,  special  coaches  for  crossing  the  continent,  and  unusual 
facilities  for  studying  the  vast  and  varied  interests  of  the  West, 
yet  in  their  infancy.  He  invited  Mr.  William  Bross  of  the  Chi 
cago  Tribune,  lieutenant-governor  of  Illinois,  and  myself,  to  join 
him  in  the  long  journey  to  the  Pacific  by  land  and  back  again  by 
water. 

We  met  at  Atchison  Kansas,  then  the  western  terminus  of  the 
railroad.  A  few  days  before,  Indians  had  captured  a  coach  coming 
ia  from  Denver,  and  killed  two  passengers.  The  morning  after 
our  arrival  another  stage  reached  Atchison,  having  engaged  in  a 
running  musketry  fight  for  several  miles.  Two  of  the  passengers 
were  ladies  whom  I  had  formerly  known  in  Colorado.  Five  years' 
residence  on  the  frontier  had  made  them  so  familiar  with  the 
horrors  which  captured  women  suffer  among  savages,  that  they 
peremptorily  instructed  their  younger  brother  to  shoot  them  in 
the  coach,  rather  than  permit  them  to  be  made  prisoners.  But 
after  the  danger  was  over,  they  regarded  it  with  that  curious  pleas 
ure  which  the  contemplation  of  perils  past  always  affords. 

Our  prospects  were  not  alluring;  but  the  telegraph  diminished 
the  risk,  and  we  were  promised  an  escort  when  needed.  Beside, 
e^r  coach  was  to  take  out  Gen.  P.  E.  Conner,  commandant  of  that 
military  district — a  sort  of  hostage  for  the  safety  of  the  rest,  as 
Punch  suggested  that  the  president  or  a  director  of  a  railway 


828 


INDIAN   MURDERS  AND   DEPREDATIONS.       [1865. 


fruitful  of  fatal  accidents,  be  compelled  to  ride  upon  the  locomotive 
of  each  passenger  train. 

Sixteen  years  before,  Conner  started  from  Fort  Leavenworth  for 
Mexico,  a  private  soldier.  Now  he  had  visited  the  fort  a  second 
time,  wearing  the  star  of  brigadier  general,  and  in  charge  of  the 
.entire  region  for  twelve  hundred  miles  between  the  Missouri  and 
Salt  Lake. 

On  the  twenty-second  of  May  we  left  Atchison.  I  wonder  if 
the  Almighty  ever  made  a  more  beautiful  country  than  Kansas ! 
The  eye  revels  in  this  wide  expanse  of  softest  green.  Gemmed 
with  innumerable  flowers,  and  darkened  by  long  lines  of  forest, 
the  prairies  are  a  joy  forever. 

At  Big  Sandy,  one  hundred  and  forty  miles  out,  we  entered 
upon  the  track  of  the  Indian  depredations  of  August,  1864.  For 
three  hundred  miles  west  of  the  Sandy,  every  house  and  barn 
along  the  road  was  burned,  eighty  settlers  murdered,  and  all  the 
stock  stolen. 

Four  cavalry-men  accompanied  us.     We  found  no  women  or 
children  at  the  ranches;  but  a  few  soldiers  on  duty  at  each  mail 
station.    At  one  was  an  ingenious  mimic  cannon — a  piece  of  stove 
pipe  mounted  upon  old  cart 
wheels.     This  *  light  artillery ' 
had  frightened  the  Indians  as 
effectually  as  the  rebel  wooden 
guns,  at  Manassas  in  1862,  ap 
palled  the  commander  of  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac. 

Near  Kearney  a  fierce,  sud 
den  tornado  overturned  emi 
grant  wagons,  threw  up  vast 
sheets  of  water  from  the  Platte, 
and  blew  several  teamsters 

into  and  across  the  shallow  stream.  We  were  hardly  able  to 
appreciate  its  ludicrousness,  for  we  had  barely  leaped  to  the  ground 
when  great  hail-stones  pelted  us  like  a  hot  musketry  fire.  As  we 
cowered  to  the  ground  our  horses  reared  and  ran,  dragging  by  their 
bits  for  a  hundred  yards  the  men  who  attempted  to  hold  them. 
Near  us  a  terrified  mule,  having  thrown  his  rider,  stood  with  per- 


LIGHT  ARTILLERY. 


1865.] 


TORNADO  NEAR  FORT  KEARNEY. 


329 


pendicular  ears,  expanded  nostrils,  and  braced  legs,  facing  the 
tornado,  a  very  concentration  of  mulish  obstinacy.  He  seemed 
to  declare  that  a  hundred  tornadoes  and  a  thousand  men  should 
never  persuade  him  to  budge  an  inch.  George  K.  Otis,  superin 
tendent  of  the  mail  line,  who  accompanied  us,  nodding  toward 
the  animal,  in  a  little  lull  of  the  blasts  asked : 

'  Did  you  ever  see  a  more  perfect  picture  of  whoa  (woe  ?') 
I  had  always  wondered  before  who  originated  the  conundrum 
which  likens  the  roof  of  a  house  to  a  lame  dog,  '  because  it  is  a 
slope  up '  (slow  pup ;)  but  now  I  knew.     Only  one  man  in  the 
world  could  have 
been  the  father  of 
that  lingual  mon 
strosity-      Otis  fe 
cit! 

The  station- 
keeper  at  Kearney 
told  us  that  six 
thousand  wagons, 
each  carrying  from 
two  thousand  to 
eight  thousand 
pounds  of  freight, 
had  passed  within 
the  last  six  weeks,  nine  hundred  of  them  within  three  days.  On 
the  road  from  the  Missouri  to  New  Mexico,  for  six  months  of  the 
same  year,  a  toll-bridge  keeper  made  a  record  of  the  teams  passing, 
with  this  result : — 

Number  of  men, 5,19t 

Numbei  of  animals, 45,350 

Pounds  of  freight, 26,123,400 

For  the  same  period  the  commissary  at  Fort  Leavenworth  sent 
Government  supplies  westward  to  the  various  plains  and  mountain 
posts : 

Pounds  of  freight, 33,000,000 

Mules  employed, 140,000 

Horses  employed, 3,000 


A   PICTURE   OF   WHOA. 


330  PRESS    DISPATCHES    ON    THE    WING.  [1865. 

A  single  Salt  Lake  merchant  paid  one  hundred  and  fifty  thou 
sand  dollars  for  hauling  his  year's  supply  of  goods  from  the  Mis< 
souri. 

These  items  give  some  faint  idea  of  the  commerce  of  the  plains. 
Government  expenditures  alone  for  hauling  freights  and  for  In 
dian  wars  during  the  last  twenty  years,  would  have  built  a  first- 
class,  double-track  railway  from  the  Mississippi  to  the  Pacific. 

Ten  years  ago,  adventurous  overland  travelers  crossing  the  con 
tinent,  were  sometimes  compelled  to  journey  three  or  four  hundred 
miles  without  seeing  a  human  habitation  save  Indian  wigwams. 
Now,  leaving  the  cars  in  eastern  Kansas  or  Nebraska,  one  passes  a 
settler's  dwelling  in  every  eight  miles,  until  he  gains  the  slow- 
climbing  Pacific  locomotive,  toiling  up  the  western  walls  of  the 
Sierra  Nevadas. 

We  passed  much  heavy  quartz  machinery,  including  a  boiler 
drawn  by  sixteen  oxen.  The  ranches  forty  or  fifty  miles  apart 
where  passengers  take  meals,  are  termed  l  home  stations ; '  those 
where  the  coach  only  stops  to  exchange  teams,  l  swing  stations.' 
By  a  droll  conceit,  the  drivers  call  the  pebbles  which  they  gather 
in  these  treeless  regions,  to  fling  at  their  lazy  mules,  ( stone  whip 
lashes/ 

The  daily  coaches,  each  carrying  several  passengers  and  about 
half  a  ton  of  mail,  now  made  the  trip  from  Atchison  and  Omaha 
to  the  Placerville  railway  in  California  (Shinkle  Springs  station)  in 
less  than  three  weeks. 

We  met  the  California  papers  daily  in  the  coaches  coming  east, 
and  were  permitted  to  read  the  dispatches  for  the  Associated 
Press,  at  telegraph  stations.  The  breakfast  of  ham,  biscuits,  and 
coffee,  on  the  great  desert,  was  the  more  palatable,  when  the  New 
York  bulletins  of  the  same  morning  were  spread  upon  the  board 
— literally  the  board — in  the  hurried  handwriting  of  the  operator, 
who  caught  and  transfixed  them  flying  on  the  lightning's  wing  to 
San  Francisco. 

*  To  the  weary,  wayworn  emigrant,  journeying  with  slow  teams 
through  these  dreary  wastes,  the  mail  coach  coming  in  sight  im 
parts  new  life.  It  is  the  connecting  link  between  the  desert  and  the 
world.  To  him  it  represents  home,  government,  civilization, 
Saratoga,  Bunker  Hill,  the  American  Flag,  and  the  Fourth  of 


1865.]  ONE    DOLLAR    FOR    A    NEWSPAPER.  831 

July  !'  Emigrants  and  ranch -men  besieged  us  for  papers.  One 
night,  when  we  rolled  up  to  a  lonely  station,  miles  from  any 
other  human  habitation,  the  stock-tender,  ragged,  shaggy,  sun 
burnt  and  unkempt,  put  his  lantern  up  to  our  coach  window 
and  implored : 

1  Gentlemen,  can  you  spare  me  a  newspaper?  I  have  not  seen 
one  for  a  week  and  can't  endure  it  much  longer.  t  I  will  give  a 
dollar  for  any  newspaper  in  the  United  States  not  more  than  ten 
days  old.' 

He  was  a  representative  American.  No  other  nation  so  subsists 
upon  the  daily  journals  as  our  own. 

In  the  summer  of  1864,  Ben  Holladay,  proprietor  of  the  over 
land  stage  line,  rode  by  special  coach  from  Folsom  California,  to 
Atchison  Kansas,  (almost  two  thousand  miles,)  in  twelve  days  and 
two  hours.  It  cost  him  twenty  thousand  dollars  in  wear  and  tear 
of  stock  and  vehicles. 

That  was  a  trip  worth  the  taking,1 — a  history  of  the  last  genera 
tion — a  prophecy  of  the  coming  Pacific  railroad,  the  grandest  ma 
terial  enterprise  of  all  time.  The  very  thought  of  it  is  inspiring. 
Whirling  over  the  Sierra  Nevadas,  along  the  perilous  edge  of 
many  a  dizzy  precipice — spinning  through  the  all-enveloping  dust 
of  the  Great  Basin,  with  its  endless  alkaline  wastes — rattling  along 
frowning  canyons  of  the  Eocky  Mountains — shooting  across  the 
sands  of  the  measureless  desert,  and  then  rolling  merrily  over  the 
gentle  swells  of  the  flower-spangled  prairie!  Night  and  day, 
through  storm  and  sunshine,  shivering  in  bitter  frost,  panting  in 
tropical  heat,  shrinking  under  pelting  hail,  cowering  in  the  light 
ning's  fiery  track — across  the  continent,  from  the  serene  ocean  to 
the  turbid  river ! 

Many  years  ago,  F.  X.  Aubrey  galloped  from  Santa  Fe  New 
Mexico,  to  Independence  Missouri,  eight  hundred  and  forty  miles, 
in  less  than  seven  days.  He  changed  horses  three  or  four 
times,  and  won  his  wager  of  one  thousand  dollars ;  but  at  the  end 
of  the  journey  he  was  so  stiff  that  he  had  to  be  lifted  from  the 
saddle. 

The  soldiers  who  accompanied  us  and  guarded  the  stations  were 
all  rebel  prisoners  or  deserters  who  had  taken  the  oath  of  allegiance 
and  enlisted  in  the  United  States  service.  They  styled  themselves 


332  GRASSHOPPERS   MIRACULOUSLY  DESTROYED.  [1865. 

( galvanized '  Yankees ;  were  faithful  prompt  and  well-disci 
plined. 

As  we  reached  one  station  our  driver  enjoined  the  waiting 
hostlers : 

'  Gents,  we  are  four  hours  behind  and  want  to  make  up  the 
time.  We  must  change  these  teams  in  three  minutes  by  the 
watch.' 

At  the  last  telegraph  office  before  the  end  of  our  journey,  the 
operator  said  to  Mr.  Colfax  and  his  party  : 

'The  Denver  people  are  making  preparations  to  give  you  fellows 
a  grand  reception.' 

In  four  days  and  a  half  from  Atchison  we  reached  Denver. 
Scourged  by  war  and  fire  and  blood,  the  city  has  grown  up 
through  great  tribulation.  Eepeatedly,  hostile  Indians  have  cut 
off  communication  with  the  States  for  months  at  a  time. 

The  early  settlers  erected  excellent  brick  and  frame  buildings 
on  the  dry  bed  of  Cherry  creek ;  and  for  two  or  three  years  it 
remained  quite  innocent  of  water.  But  at  midnight,  on  the  nine 
teenth  of  May,  1864,  without  any  warning,  a  great  storm  on  the 
plains  changed  the  creek  from  a  sand-bed  to  a  deluge.  An  im 
mense  torrent  came  plunging  down,  sweeping  away  every  build 
ing  like  gossamer  Not  a  vestige  remained.  Not  a  relic  was 
ever  found  even  of  the  six  printing  presses  of  the  News  office,  or 
the  great  iron  safe  which  contained  the  archives  of  the  city. 
Several  lives  were  lost.  The  next  morning  the  creek-bed  was 
again  dry ;  but  real  estate  there,  in  great  demand  before,  has  not 
since  possessed  any  marketable  value. 

For  two  or  three  early  seasons  the  crops  in  the  valleys  were 
utterly  destroyed  by  grasshoppers.  These  plagues  of  the  frontier 
seem  to  visit  all  new  States.  Again  and  again  they  passed  through 
Utah  like  hungry  armies,  eating  every  green  thing.  At  last 
enormous  flocks  of  birds  came  upon  their  track  and  devoured  the 
grasshoppers  themselves,  which  never  afterward  troubled  the 
Mormons.  The  Saints  thought  the  deliverance  a  special  interposi 
tion  of  Providence  on  behalf  of  their  prophet  and  the  Lord's 
chosen  people.  Colorado  had  no  Brigham ;  but  this  year  the  grass 
hoppers  were  harmless,  and  we  found  the  valley  abounding  in 
flourishing  ranches — the  universal  term  for  farms.  Ranch,  or 


1865.]  RANCH    EGGS    VERSUS    STATES    EGGS.  833 

domestic  productions,  from  their  superior  freshness,  are  greatly 
preferred  to  those  brought  from  the  States.  A  Coloradoan  at  one 
of  the  New  York  hotels,  finding  a  bad  egg  at  breakfast,  said  to 
the  waiter: 

*  Take  away  these  confounded  States  eggs,  and  bring  me  some 
ranch  eggs!' 

Colorado  agriculture  was  already  successful  and  there  were  some 
grain  fields  of  five  and  six  hundred  acres.  The  next  year  (1866) 
careful  computation  showed  that  seventy  thousand  acres  were 
planted ;  arid  home  crops  supplied  the  population  of  the  Territory 
with  every  farm  product  except  corn. 

In  some  departments  of  business  high  prices  still  prevailed. 
Six  or  seven  daily  newspapers  were  published.  Subscription 
price  of  the  dailies :  twenty -five  dollars  per  annum,  or  seventy-five 
cents  per  week  by  carrier;  weekliesr  eight  dollars  per  annum. 
Single  copies,  twenty-five  cents.  Advertisements,  two  dollars  per 
square  of  ten  lines,  fo-r  each  insertion.. 

At  my  last  visit,  five-  years-  before,.  Civilization  had  barely  ex 
tended  to  these  wilds  the  tips  of  her  gracious  fingers.  Now  Den 
ver  boasted  a  population  of  five  thousand,  and  many  imposing 
buildings.  The  hotel  bills-of-"fare  didi  not  differ  materially  from 
those  in  New  York  or  Chicago..  Single  foudldkig  lots  had  com 
manded  twelve  thousand  dollars,.  One  firm  had  sold  half  a  million 
dollars  worth  of  goods  in  eight  months^ 

With  fresh  memories  of  the  log^cabins,  plank  tables,  tin  cups 
and  plates,  and  fatal  whisky  of  1859,  I  did  not  readily  recover 
from  my  surprise  on  seeing  libraries  and  pictures,  rich  carpets  and 
pianos,  silver  and  wine — on  meeting  families  with  the  habits,  dress 
and  surroundings  of  the  older  States.  Keenly  we  enjoyed  the 
pleasant  hospitalities  of  society  among  the  quickened  intelligences 
and  warmed  hearts  of  the  frontier.  Western  emigration  makes 
men  larger  and  riper,  more  liberal  and  more  fraternal. 

The  mountain  view  from  the  city  impressed  me  as  more  grand 
and  beautiful  than  ever.  Bayard  Taylor  knows  'no  external 
picture  of  the  Alps,  which  can  be  placed  beside  it;'  and  in 
average  hight  the  Alps  are  surpassed  by  the  Eocky  Mountains. 

On  the  way  to  the  mines  we  crossed  Clear  creek,  which  tearing 
down  from  the  range  will  afford  excellent  water-power  when  the 

22 


334 


LESSON    OF    MOUNTAIN    SCENERY. 


[1865. 


manufacturer's  bit  shall  be  placed  in  its  foaming  mouth.  We 
entered  the  mountains  at  Golden  Gate,  by  the  first  stage-coach 
which  had  ever  penetrated  to  the  old  Gregory  Diggings.  Thou 
sands  of  acres^  which  at  my  first  visit  had  been  covered  with  stately 
pines,  were  now  utterly  bare.  The  wood  had  been  consumed  for 
fuel  in  Denver,  and  by  the  mountain  quartz  mills. 

After  climbing  for  hours,  reaching  the  summit  of  a  high  ridge 


we  gazed  back 
upon  Denver, 
nestling  down 
in  the  valley  a 
city  of  pigmies 
and  play 
houses,  and 


DENVER   ARCHITECTURE. 


upon  the  un 
dulating,  sea- 
green  plains, 
spreading  out 
in  a  limitless 
ocean.  Then 
we  looked  for 
ward  to  the  Snowy  Range,  its  rich  purple  streaked  with  dazzling 
white,  and  one  of  its  peaks  draped  in  soft  transparent  haze. 

With  profound  truth  and  suggestiveness,  Holmes  asks  if  all  the 
tongues  of  the  world  can  tell  how  thrushes  sing  and  lilacs  smell ! 
The  one  lesson  of  this  mountain  scenery  is  the  utter  poverty  of 
language.  Not  even  the  wonderful  delineations  of  Bierstadt  and 
Church  convey  more  than  a  hint  of  its  beauty  and  grandeur. 

The  most  exquisite  combinations  and  contrasts  of  color  inter 
mingle.  Over  vast  fire-swept  expanses,  blackened  armless  trunks 
of  trees  stand  weird  and  ghastly ;  while  beyond  rise  ridges  of 


1865.]     GREGORY    DIGGINGS    AT    SIX    YEARS    OLD.         335 

smooth  greensward,  or  peaks  and  walls  of  rugged  rock.  Through 
the  valleys,  little  streams  lashed  into  snowy  whiteness  foam  down 
stony  beds,  their  grassy  banks  fragrant  with  the  breath  of  honey 
suckle  and  violet,  sweet  with  the  meek  bluebell,  dark  with  the 
purple  larkspur,  or  bright  with  the  flaming  glory  of  the  sunflower. 

Winding  up  North  Clear  creek  we  began  to  pass  great  quartz 
mills. '  Near  the  old  Gregory  Diggings  we  reached  the  mining 
settlements  of  Black  Hawk  and  Central,  which  thread  the  narrow 
valley  for  three  miles,  in  quaint,  crooked,  contracted  streets — like 
those  of  a  Swiss  hamlet — shut  in  on  both  sides  by  steep,  bare 
mountains.  Wood  and  granite  quartz  mills,  old  log-cabins  of  '59, 
shops,  stables,  school-houses,  drinking-saloons,  handsome  brick 
blocks,  newspaper  and  express  offices,  side  by  side  crowd  each 
other  in  the  tortuous  thoroughfares,  while  the  creek,  muddy  and 
turbid  from  washing  out  the  quartz,  tumbles  among  them.  Pictur 
esque  cream-colored  and  stone-colored  cottages  perch  in  little  niches 
of  rugged  hills ;  and  a  neat  Gothic  church  overlooks  the  whole. 

Lodes  real  and  supposititious  have  been  staked  and  worked  all 
over  the  mountains.  During  1864  the  fees  of  the  recorder  of  one 
mining  district,  amounted  to  twenty  thousand  dollars  above 
office  expenses.  Lodes  are  traced  by  the  outcroppings  or 
'  blossom,'  a  faint  line  of  decaying  quartz  along  the  surface.  The 
number  of  feet  along  the  '  lead'  which  a  claim  may  embrace,  is 
decided  by  the  miners,  and  varies  greatly  in  different  States. 

Most  of  the  inhabitants  were  engaged  in  legitimate  business ;  but 
as  in  all  gold  regions  there  were  many  loafers,  chiefly  divided  into 
two  classes.  Of  the  lower,  locally  known  as  *  bummers,'  it  was 
said  that  when  two  citizens  approached  a  bar,  and  one  asked  his 
friend — not  if  he  would  drink,  for  that  is  superfluous  west  of  the 
Missouri,  but — what  he  would  drink,  seventeen  immediately 
stepped  up  and  remarked  that  they  would  take  sugar  in  theirs ! 
The  more  respectable  class,  speculating  in  claims  or  mining  stocks, 
talked  volubly  about  the  rights  of  the  working  people,  and  of 
themselves  as  '  honest  miners.' 

During  our  visit  there  was  a  hot  excitement,  very  character 
istic  of  a  gold  country,  over  a  contested  claim.  A  suit  was 
pending  between  two  rival  companies,  and  the  chief  justice 
of  the  Territory  granted  an  injunction  restricting  one  from 


336 


A  CUKIOUS  CLAIM  CONTKOVEKSY. 


[1865. 


further  work  upon  their  shaft,  but  permitting  Fitz  John  Porter 
of  army  memory,  who  represented  the  other,  to  go  on  with 
his  shaft.  Angry  at  this  seemingly  unjust  discrimination,  the 
hostile  company  placed  an  injunction  upon  Porter,  quite  as 
effective  and  considerably  more  offensive.  There  was  a  draught 
from  one  excavation  into  the  other ;  so  they  built  a  fire  upon  their 
own  premises  and  Porter  found  a  column  of  smoke  from  burning 

sulphur  rising  through  his  shaft, 
which  made  it  impossible  to  enter 
it.  An  attachment  was  placed 
upon  his  opponents  for  this  curi 
ous  contempt  of  court ;  but  they 
kept  up  the  smoke.  Both  par 
ties  were  bitter  and  armed  with 
shot-guns.  The  whole  commu 
nity  was  divided  into  adherents 
of  one  side  or  the  other,  and  the 
contest  involved  much  political 
feeling.  With  the  usual  frontier 
mildness,  threats  of  killing  were 
freely  made ;  but  the  affair  was  fi 
nally  adjusted  without  bloodshed. 
The  history  of  Colorado  illus 
trates  the  uncertainties  of  mining. 
Gold-bearing  quartz  opened  very 
richly  ;  and  during  the  first  wild 
excitement,  nearly  twenty  millions 
of  dollars  of  eastern  capital  were 

invested.  One  company  sold  six  hundred  thousand  dollars  worth 
of  stock  at  par  for  cash,  over  the  counter  of  its  New  York  office 
in  a  single  day  ;  and  at  the  close  of  business  hours  was  compelled 
to  call  in  the  police  to  clear  the  room  of  eager  purchasers. 
'Children  cried  for  it.7  Thus  quartz  mills  with  an  aggregate  of 
two  thousand  stamps  were  sent  out,  and  mines  opened.  But  at  a 
certain  depth  the  character  of  the  veins  changed.  The  gold 
was  associated  with  pyrites  of  iron,  and  could  not  be  sep 
arated  by  any  known  process.  From  that  day  to  this  Colorado 
mining  has  been  practically  suspended,  but  the  gold  is  there ; 


AN   HONEST   MIXER. 


1865.]     GROWTH    AND    RESOURCES    OF    COLORADO.         337 

intelligent  experimenting  is  constantly  going  forward,  and  sooner 
or  later  American  ingenuity  will  surmount  the  obstacles. 

Despite  this  drawback,  Colorado  though  developed  during  our 
great  civil  war,  has  produced  more  treasure  than  any  other  State 
except  California.  Much  of  our  native  gold  is  used  in  jewelry  and 
other  manufactures,  and  the  following  official  exhibit  shows  only 
that  deposited  in  our  Government  mints  from  1804  to  July,  1866 : 

California, $584,559,251  23 

Colorado, 12,401,374  20 

Idaho, 10,771,837  30 

North  Carolina, 9,278,627  67 

Oregon, 8,182,544  36 

Montana, 7,272,456  01 

Georgia, 6,971,681  50 

Virginia, -.1,570,182  82 

South  Carolina, 1,353,663  .98 

Other  sources, - 9,785,037  34 


Total, 652,146,656  41 

This  is  exclusive  of  silver,  of  which  all  our  gold  regions  yield  con 
siderably;  and  Nevada,  Oregon  and  Idaho  turn  out  almost  twenty 
millions  yearly.  Most  of  the  yield  of  the  southern  States  was  prior  to 
1858,  though  since  the  great  war  the  product  has  revived  in  North 
Carolina,  Georgia  and  Virginia. 

The  Colorado  mining  regions  are  seven  thousand  feet  above  the 
sea,  in  regions  subject  to  frequent  frosts.  Still  the  mountain- 
guarded  valleys  produce  excellent  vegetables.  The  auriferous 
quartz  contains  from  nine  to  twenty  per  cent,  of  copper,  which 
ought  to  pay  all  expenses  of  extracting  the  gold. 

The  Eocky  Mountain  beds  of  coal,  from  ten  to  twelve  inches' 
thick,  are  among  the  largest  in  the  world;  and  there  are 
indications  of  the  same  material  in  large  quantities'  all  the  way 
from  Kansas  to  the  range.  Iron  is  abundant  and  foundries  are 
already  at  work.  Considerable  wool  is  produced,  and  large  manu 
factories  are  going  up.  Valuable  oil  wells  have  been  discovered  ; 
one  is  opened  seventy-five  feet,  and  yields  twenty  barrels  per  day. 
Now  (1867,)  Colorado  contains  thirty  thousand  inhabitants,  and 
its  property  is  appraised  for  home  taxation  at  fifteen  millions  of 
dollars — all  developed  since  1859  ! 


338  VIRGINIA    DALE  —  LOVER'S    LEAP.  [1865. 


CHAPTER    XXIX. 

BEYOND  Denver,  the  road  had  been  practically  closed  for  several 
weeks  by  Indian  hostilities.  We  encountered  few  emigrants  or 
freighters  save  in  large  parties  traveling  together  for  protection. 
At  nightfall  their  wagons  were  drawn  close  together,  with  the 
tongue  of  each  under  the  bed  of  the  next,  making  two  elliptical 
lines  which  no  assault  can  easily  break.  Within  this  extemporized 
fortification,  all  the  animals  are  driven,  the  last  gap  is  closed  up ; 
and  the  emigrant  sleeps  secure  from  the  Noble  Savage,  who  never 
moves  upon  the  enemy's  works. 

More  than  one  Coloradoan,  indignant  at  the  failure  of  the 
authorities  to  guard  settlements  and  roads,  had  remarked  in  our 
hearing : 

'I  wish  the  Indians  might  catch  the  Colfax  party;  for  that 
would  stimulate  the  Government  to  protect  us.' 

We  were  hardly  public-spirited  enough  to  echo  the  prayer. 
The  Indians  did  not  catch  us;  but  a  hundred  miles  west  of  Denver 
the  troubles  grew  so  serious  that  we  waited  for  trustworthy  informa 
tion  from  the  front,  remaining  one  day  at  Virginia  Dale  station, 
in  a  lovely  little  valley  imprisoned  by  towering  mountains.  One 
of  their  precipitous  walls  is  known  as  the  Lover's  Leap.  The 
legend  runs  that  an  emigrant,  whose  mistress  had  abandoned  him 
and  married  another,  threw  himself  from  it  and  was  dashed  to 
pieces,  in  full  view  of  the  woman  for  whom  he  had  flung  away 
his  life.  The  Secession  founder  of  the  station,  not  daring  to  call 
it  Virginia  Davis  in  honor  of  Mrs.  Jefferson  Davis,  found  solace 
in  the  name,  Virginia  Dale. 

A  hundred  miles  beyond,  the  Savages  had  driven  off  the  horses 
and  mules  from  three  stations.  Two  emigrants  were  found  dead 


1865.] 


SMELLING    THE    BATTLE    AFAR    OFF. 


339 


upon  the  road — one  scalped,  the  other  with  throat  cut  from  ear  to 
ear,  and  thirteen  arrows  in  his  body.  One  of  these,  with  the  iron 
point  still  bloody,  was  shown  to  us.  The  varieties  of  arrows  indi 
cated  that  the  attack  was  made  by  a  mixed  party  and  not  by  one 
tribe. 

On  a  June  day,  cold  as  November,  at  the  crossing  of  the  North 


INDIAN    ATTACK   AT   NOlll'lI    PLATTB    CROSSING. 


Platte  river,  we  stood 
gazing  at  a  party  of 
recusant  Mormons 
returning  to  the 
States,  when  running 

horses,  reports  of  guns  and  loud  yells  announced  an  Indian  attack. 
The  wagons  of  the  emigrants,  with  the  women  and  children,  were 
at  the  water's  edge.  Beyond  them  in  a  little  valley,  were 
grazing  their  weary  horses  and  mules,  well  guarded  by  the  men. 
The  Indians  came  over  a  hill,  in  a  sharp  dash  upon  the  animals, 
hoping  to  stampede  and  secure  them.  The  soldiers  of  our  escort 
rushed  to  the  ferry-boat  to  participate  in  the  fray ;  but  I  reconciled 
myself  to  the  decrees  of  Providence,  content  to  smell  the  battle 


340  INDIANS    A    LITTLE    TOO    NEAK.  [1865. 

afar  off — indeed  with  a  secret  wish  that  I  were  too  far  off  to  smell 
it  at  all.  The  river  was  a  safe  barrier  between  the  savages  and 
ourselves;  for  the  waters  were  high,  and  a  coach,  horses,  mail  and 
all,  which  had  gone  to  the  bottom  a  week  before,  was  still  buried 
in  its  depths. 

The  sturdy  emigrants  uprose  from  their  concealment  among  the 
horses,  and  fired  a  volley  at  their  assailants  with  such  coolness  and 
precision  that  the  savages  fled  yelling  over  the  hills,  and  were  out 
of  sight  again  in  a  twinkling. 

While  our  mules  were  changed  that  evening,  at  a  station  fifteen 
miles  beyond,  we  chatted  for  ten  minutes  with  guards  and  hostlers. 
Twelve  hours  afterward,  the  Indians  swept  down,  killing  every 
occupant  except  two  soldiers,  who,  wounded,  made  their  escape. 

Many  of  the  desert  stations  are  substantial  stone  buildings,  with 
loop-holes  in  the  walls,  with  shining  rifles  and  well  polished 
revolvers  hanging  ready  to  be  grasped  at  any  moment.  Some  of 
the  women  are  comely  and  lady-like,  adapting  themselves  with 
grace  and  heroism  to  the  rude  labors  of  cooking  meals  for  passen 
gers,  and  the  horrible,  ever-present  peril  of  capture. 

At  one  station,  by  a  lurid  candle  we  saw  the  red-hot  brand  of 
the  stage  company,  pressed  on  the  flanks  of  the  shrinking  mules. 
They  had  just  been  purchased  to  replace  those  taken  by  the  Indians. 
The  next  day  they  too  were  stolen.  This  happened  again  and 
again  during  the  summer. 

Our  road  traversed  portions  of  Colorado,  Dacotah,  Montana  and 
Utah,  over  endless  wastes ;  and  among  the  Black  Hills,  Wind  River, 
Uintah  and  Wasatch  ranges  and  offshoots  of  the  Rocky  Mountains. 
We  saw  clear  trout-haunted  brooks  and  little  lakes ;  lofty  peaks ; 
terrible  wastes  white  with  alkali;  dreary  ashen  hills  of  bare  drab 
earth,  the  parched  ground  deeply  gashed  and  gullied,  the  faint 
streams  bitter  and  poisonous,  blinding  dust  filling  the  air ;  and  no 
atom  of  vegetable  life  except  the  sage-brush  and  the  cactus.  This 
is  indeed  the  desert — the  very  abomination  of  desolation. 

One  of  our  escort,  with  cavalry  rifle  at  four  hundred  yards,  brought 
down  an  antelope  with  great  branching  horns,  which  he  flourished 
wickedly  about  our  soldier,  who  boldly  seized  them  and  then  cut 
his  throat.  Strapping  the  fallen  chieftain  to  our  coach,  we  con 
tributed  him  to  the  larder  of  the  next  station-keeper.  Surly  gray 


1865.] 


WAGON    THREE    INCHES    TOO    WIDE, 


341 


wolves  gazed  fixedly  at  us,  until  Governor  Bross  fired  at  them 
with  his  shot-gun ;  then  galloped  lazily  away.  We  were  a  sort  of 
traveling  arsenal,  with  two  or  three  weapons  to  the  man. 
Attacked,  we  should  have  been  dangerous  indeed — at  least  to 
each  other.  That  we  all  escaped  with  our  lives  is  due  only  to  that 
overruling  Prov.idence  which  restrains  the  recklessness  of  overland 
tourists,  and  sets  at  naught  the  aims  of  amateur  sportsmen. 

One  night  a  huge  grizzly  struck  an  attitude  directly  before  our 
coach,  and  refused  to  stir 
an  inch.  An  old  trapper 
had  lately  shown  me  the 
scars  on  his  thigh,  where, 
years  before,  one  seized 
and  shook  him  as  a  dog 
shakes  a  rabbit,  and  told 
me  of  another  bear,  near 
Salt  Lake,  who  killed  five 
hunters  before  he  was  dis 
patched.  With  these  fresh 
memories,  we  did  not 
attempt  either  to  wheedle 
br  frighten  Bruin,  but  e'en  AN  OUTSIDE  PASSENGER. 

turned  out  of  the  road,  and 

left  him  peacefully  studying  astronomy.  As  Artemus  Ward 
observes  of  the  man  who  insulted  him :  '  He  was  larger  than  we, 
and  we  forgave  him.' 

We  traversed  Bridger's  Pass,  nine  thousand  feet  above  sea-level. 
There  is  a  story  of  a  California  emigrant  who,  a  hundred  miles 
back,  sold  his  wagon  to  a  ranch-keeper,  on  the  assurance  that  it 
was  just  three  inches  too  wide  to  go  through  Bridger's  Pass! 

Here  the  waters  of  the  Atlantic  are  divided  from  those  of  the 
Pacific ;  but  there  is  no  gorge  or  canyon — only  a  vast  desert  so 
nearly  level  that  one  can  not  tell  when  he  crosses  the  summit. 

Two  nights  later,  just  as  the  great  moon  rose  from  behind 
eastern  mountains,  we  reached  the  Church  Butte. 


1  If  thou  wouldst  view  fair  Melrose  aright, 
Go  visit  it  by  the  pale  moonlight.' 


342  CHUKCH    BUTTE    AND  -FOKT    BRIDGER.          [1865. 

The  butte  is  a  strange  irregular  pile  of  bare  gray  earth,  half  a 
mile  in  circumference,  hundreds  of  feet  high.  Crowned  with 
masses  of  red  sandstone,  worn  by  the  pitiless  elements  into  all 
manner  of  fantastic  forms,  the  mystic  moonlight  transforms  it  into 
a  vast  ruined  cathedral  with  crumbling  walls,  quaint  turrets  and 
niches  holding  sculptured  figures.  There  too  we  can  trace  a  huge 
fallen  sphinx  with  face  downward,  a  long  colonnade  with  half  its 
noble  pillars  broken,  great  human  heads,  owls,  eagles,  centaurs,  .and 
two  enormous  lions  couchant  overlooking  and  guarding  the  whole. 

Fort  Bridger,  eight  thousand  feet  above  the  sea,  with  gurgling 
rills  threading  its  green  parade  ground  and  supplying  its  neat  log 
barracks,  is  one  of  our  most  beautiful  frontier  posts.  It  wras 
formerly  a  great  rendezvous  for  traders  and  trappers.  The  traders 
lived  with  their  families  in  secure  forts,  buying  furs  of  the  trap 
pers  and  buffalo  robes  of  the  Indians.  They  professed  to  give  St. 
Louis  prices ;  but  paid  in  coffee  and  sugar  at  two  dollars  per  cup, 
calico  at  two  dollars  per  yard  and  whisky  and  tobacco  at  corres 
ponding  rates.  A  cup  of  sugar  was  the  ordinary  payment  for  a 
buffalo  robe. 

A  few  of  the  trappers  still  survive,  walking  cyclopedias  of 
narrow  escapes  and  exciting  adventures — living  volumes  of  travel, 
incident  and  romance.  Buffalo-hunts,  hand-to-hand  conflicts  with 
grizzly  bears,  long  wanderings  when  lost  among  the  mountains, 
without  food  or  shelter,  miraculous  endurance  of  hardships  and 
wounds,  and  deadly  fights  with  Indians,  form  the  staple  of  their 
legendary  lore.  Sometimes  a  vein  of  quaint,  unexpected  humor 
runs  through  their  stirring  naratives. 

While  waiting  breakfast  at  Fort  Bridger,  in  the  gray  of  this 
June  morning,  our  party  sat  around  the  fire  of  the  great  sutler- 
store  of  Judge  Carter,  who  combines  the  functions  of  merchant 
and  magistrate,  listening  to  the  tales  of  Jack  Kobinson,  a  trapper 
of  forty  years  experience.  He  supplemented  his  history  of  hair 
breadth  'scapes  with  the  remark : 

'  But  the  most  singular  thing  I  ever  did  was  to  make  a  hundred 
and  fifty  Blackfoot  Indians  run.' 

'  How  was  that  ?'  we  asked. 

1  It  was  one  year  when  the  red  devils  were  very  hostile,  and 
lifted  the  hair  of  every  white  man  they  could  catch.  Biding  a 


1865.]  AN  OLD  TBAPPER'S  STORY.  343 

swift  horse,  I  suddenly  came  upon  a  party  of  them.  I  turned  and 
ran  and  they  all  ran  after  me;  but  they  didn't  catch  old  Jack.' 

From  Fort  Bridger  in  the  fall  of  1857,  Colonel  Marcy  with  a 
hundred  men  started  through  the  mountains  for  Fort  Massachu 
setts,  New  Mexico,  to  bring  provisions  for  the  Government 
expedition  against  Utah.  They  lost  most  of  their  animals,  and 
were  frequently  compelled  to  break  the  track  by  crawling  through 
the  snow.  After  suffering  untold  hardships  they  at  last  reached 
their  destination.  American  pioneer  history  has  nothing  more 
gallant  than  their  energy  and  endurance. 

We  found  the  long  warehouse  of  the  post-sutler  crowded  with 
goods.  His  trade  was  said  to  net  him  seventy-five  thousand  dol 
lars  a  year.  We  did  ample  justice  to  his  hospitable  breakfast, 
and  listened  wonderingly  while  his  pretty  daughters  and  their 
governess  evoked  music  from  their  piano.  The  instrument  an 
swered  spiritedly  to  their  touch,  manifesting  neither  loneliness  nor 
debility  after  its  journey  of  two  thousand  five  hundred  miles  from 
New  York,  one-half  the  way  in  an  ox-wagon. 

When  we  pressed  on,  the  day  was  charming.  Coming  from  a 
desert  dreary  as  Sahara,  we  began  to  view  mountains  that  rival 
Switzerland,  and  skies  of  Italian  beauty.  The  air  was  soft  and 
warm ;  flowers  abounded,  and  mosquitoes  buzzed  about  us, 
though  patches  of  snow  were  on  all  sides.  From  the  ridges  we 
looked  over  an  immense  area  of  green  valleys  gay  with  flowers, 
bright  with  silver  streams ;  and  mountains  of  every  hue,  dotted 
with  dark  cedars,  streaked  with  snow,  and  lost  in  dim,  fleecy 
clouds.  Once  we  stopped  the  coach,  and  in  a  little  aspen  thicket 
where  the  snow  was  fifteen  feet  deep,  had  a  rough-and-tumble 
snow-balling  frolic.  But  of  this  diversion  man  wants  but  little 
here  below,  nor  wants  that  little  long.  So  with  well-pelted  faces, 
stinging  ears  and  aching  hands,  we  came  back  over  the  green 
sward,  among  the  mosquitoes,  roses,  sunflowers,  violets,  daisies, 
and  forget-me-nots,  to  the  dusty  road. 

We  din.ed  with  a  Mormon  elder,  whose  young  wife  rarely  gave 
us  a  glimpse  of  her  black  eyes.  The  driver  assured  us  that  she 
was  his  fifth — that  her  four  predecessors  all  ran  away  from  him. 
From  his  cheerful  good  humor  I  think  the  husband  classed  them 
among  blessings  which  brightened  when  they  took  their  flight. 


344 


THREE    MORMON    WIVES  — ALL    SISTERS.       [1865, 


SNOW-BALLING   IX  JUNE. 


That  evening  we  passed  through  Echo  Canyon,  twenty  miles 
in  length,  a  wonderful  gorge  in  the  mountains,  where  snows 

often  slide  down  and 
overwhelm  travelers. 
As  we  crossed  its 
flashing  stream,  and 
rattled  over  crazy  log 
bridges,  the  scene 
grew  wilder  and 
wilder.  On  the  left, 
steep,  grassy,  snow- 
crowned  slopes ;  on 
the  right,  an  abrupt 
wall  of  red  conglome 
rate  rock,  with  lateral 
canyons  breaking  it, 
with  the  somber 
mouths  of  dark  caves 
opening  into  it,  with 
swallows'  nests  plastered  to  its  crags,  and  those  'dewy  masons  of 
the  eaves'  -twittering  about  them.  Here  the  Mormons  fortified 
on  the  approach  of  Johnston's  army  in  1857.  Their  rifle-pits  in 
the  valley,  and  their  little  stone  houses  with  loop-holes,  on  the  very 
top  of  the  dizzy  bluff,  are  still  visible.  Higher  and  higher  towers 
the  wall  on  our  right,  until  smooth  as  if  dressed  with  the  hammer, 
true  as  if  lined  by  the  plummet,  it  rises  two  thousand  feet.  To 
see  Echo  Canyon  is  worth  a  journey  across  the  Atlantic. 

Emigration  Canyon,  the  first  route  through  the  Wasatch  moun 
tains  opened  by  the  Mormons,  is  equally  famous  and  almost 
equally  grand.  It  begins  six  miles  southeast  of  Salt  Lake  City, 
and  abounds  in  wildest  and  most  beautiful  scenery. 

On  the  fifth  morning  from  Denver,  we  breakfasted  with  a  Mor 
mon  bishop,  who  boasts  three  wives,  all  of  them  sisters. 

Up  one  terrible  hill,  down  on  its  opposite  side,  through  a 
canyon — and  then  at  our  feet  was  a  great  basin,  walled  in  by  snow- 
streaked  mountains,  with  blue  lakes  set  like  gems  in  its  soft 
green,  and  a  shining  stream  lying  across  it  like  a  ribbon.  In  the 
midst  of  this  happy  valley,  a  picture  of  oriental  beauty,  we  saw 


1865.] 


FIKST    VIEW    OF    SALT   LAKE   VALLEY. 


345 


the  neat  houses,  the  quaint  public  buildings,  the  deep  shade-trees,  the 
broad  streets  and  flashing  rivulets  of  the  City  of  Great  Salt  Lake. 


EMIGRATION    CANYON,    NEAR   SALT   LAKE    CITY. 

Though  several  miles  distant,  we  detected  small  objects  in  the 
town  with  perfect  clearness.  From  a  hill  on  the  west,  twenty-two 
miles  away,  I  have  twice  distinctly  seen  the  dwellings  and  trees 
of  Salt  Lake  City.  And  trustworthy  persons  aver  that,  on  clear 
days,  the  buildings  of  Fort  Boise,  Idaho,  are  seen  with  the  naked 
eye,  from  War  Eagle  mountain,  fifty-five  miles,  as  the  bird  flies ! 
Mr.  Colfax  was  met  by  a  band  of  music,  and  a  cavalry  escort 
which  conducted  him  into  Camp  Douglas,  where  he  paid  his 


346       SPEECHES  AND  RESPONSES — HOT  SPRINGS.      [1865. 

respects  to  the  commandant  and  was  greeted  with  the  speaker's 
salute  of  fifteen  guns.  Then  approaching  the  city,  weary,  sun« 
browned  and  dust-begrimed,  he  found  the  (Mormon)  common 
council  and  citizens  awaiting  him  on  a  bare  hill.  Of  course  there 
were  speeches.  W.  H.  Hooper,  delegate  to  Congress,  bade  the  party 
welcome  to  their  mountain  home,  to  note  the  beautiful  city,  the 
hundred  villages,  the  two  hundred  mills  and  the  thousands  of 
farms  they  had  established  in  this  remote  region.  Here  in  the  early 
days  had  they  unfurled  the  Stars  and  Stripes  from  Ensign  Peak ; 
here  had  they  mourned  the  loss  of  our  beloved  President ;  here 
had  they  reaped  the  benefits  of  Schuyler  Colfax's  life-long  fidelity 
to  frontier  interests;  here  had  they  once  welcomed  Horace 
Greeley,  always  a  true  friend  of  the  Territory  and  an  honored 
member  of  that  profession  which  directs  public  opinion. 

Mr.  Colfax  the  while,  stood  in  the  blazing  sun,  his  head 
covered  by  a  white  handkerchief,  his  face  wearing  the  resigned 
expression  of  a  blessed  martyr.  At  the  close,  he  responded  in 
one  of  those  pointed  speeches  which,  without  a  moment's  prepara 
tion,  flow  from  him  as  water  gushes  from  a  spring.  A  fervid 
eulogy  upon  Abraham  Lincoln ;  a  warm  commendation  of  the 
boys  in  blue  who  won  our  battles ;  a  brilliant  picture  of  our 
country's  future,  in  whose  prosperity  and  honor  Utah  would  share, 
if  faithful  to  the  constitution,  devoted  to  the  Union  and  obedient 
to  the  laws. 

Eemarks  and  hand-shakings  ended,  we  drove  through  the  city, 
very  quiet  on  this  Sunday  morning,  to  one  of  the  many  tepid 
springs  which  abound  in  the  Territory.  A  mile  west  of  town  the 
Sulphur  Spring,  as  large  as  a  man's  thigh,  gushes  from  a  hill-side. 
The  water  is  so  hot  (one  hundred  and  two  degrees)  that  one 
shrinks  from  its  first  touch,  but  soon  finds  it  delightful.  After  ten 
minutes  of  plunging  and  swimming,  he  comes  out  cleansed  from 
head  to  foot;  every  muscle  relaxed,  every  nerve  pervaded  by 
delicious  languor.  It  is  claimed  that  the  water  possesses  rare 
curative  virtues  for  rheumatism. 

Two  miles  further  is  the  Hot  Spring,  spouting  in  a  column 
larger  than  the  body  of  a  man,  and  hot  enough  to  boil  an  egg. 
Among  the  ancients,  its  sulphurous  smell  and  great  clouds  of  mist 
and  steam,  would  have  declared  it  a  mouth  of  Tartarus.  Beside 


1865.]  SCENERY    OF    WONDERFUL    BEAUTY.  347 

it  is  a  lovely  little  lake,  fringed  by  green  poplars,  with  a  back 
ground  of  purple  mountains,  bearing  aloft  soft  coronets  of  cloud. 

From  these  springs  we*  rode  back,  in  a  glorious  atmosphere, 
under  skies  of  wonderful  blue.  Behind  us  were  the  Great  Salt 
Lake,  and  the  greater  mountains. 

On  our -right  was  the  shining  Jordan,  to  the  Mormons  better 
than  Abana  and  Pharpar  or  all  the  other  waters  of  Damascus. 
Beyond  the  river  a  strip  of  valley ;  then  lofty  mountain  slopes,  sea- 
green  at  the  base,  dark  slate  toward  the  summits. 

Before  us  was  the  city,  with  its  flashing  streams,  its  low,  adobe 
houses  with  trellised  verandas ;  its  green  gardens,  and  shade-trees 
of  locust,  aspen,  poplar,  maple,  walnut,  elder  and  cottonwood ;  its 
bustling  marts  of  trade,  and  cloistered  retreats  for  the  offices  of  a 
strange  religion.  Miles  beyond  stretched  the  green  valley,  its  blue, 
shimmering  lakes  bounded  at  last  by  a  wall  of  mountain. 

And  on  our  left  still  towered  the  range,  gashed  with  great 
yawning  crevices  that  would  swallow  New  York  and  its  environs 
— its  solid  base  green  and  gray,  its  summits  white  with  eternal 
snow.  Side  by  side,  blending  into  one  matchless  picture,  were 
summer  and  winter,  Italy  and  Switzerland,  the  dreamy  Orient 
and  the  restless  Occident. 

That  afternoon  and  the  following  Sunday  we  attended  Mormon 
religious  service.  The  people  are  erecting  an  enormous  temple  of 
granite  which  will  seat  ten  thousand  people  and  will  be  one  of  the 
finest  church  edifices  in  the  United  States.  As  yet  it  has  not 
made  much  progress.  The  Saints  worship  in  a  frame  building 
during  the  winter  months,  and  in  summer  at  the  Bowery — a  great 
arbor  with  seats  of  rough  pine  boards,  and  a  low,  flat  roof  of  with 
ered  branches,  supported  by  upright  poles.  For  the  warm  season 
it  is  far  pleasanter  than  any  building ;  a  good  substitute  for  the 
groves  which  were  God's  first  temples. 

During  our  stay  of  eight  days  we  were  most  hospitably  entreated 
by  Mormon  authorities  and  citizens,  always  kind  to  strangers  and 
anxious  to  eradicate  any  unfavorable  impressions  of  their  faith  and 
practices.  They  entertained  us  in  their  houses — a  hospitality  rarely 
extended  to  Gentiles.  They  showed  us  the  varied  industries  which 
have  originated  in  the  wise  determination  of  their  leaders  to  make 
them  a  self-sustaining  people. 


348 


EIGHT    DAYS    AMONG    THE    MORMONS. 


[1865. 


One  turned  us  loose  among  his  delicious  strawberries  and  juicy 
cherries.  Apricots,  peaches,  plums,  pears,  and  apples  were  all 
ripening  upon  his  trees.  Beside  them,  just  beyond  his  inclosure, 
the  dreary  sage-brush  was  growing  on  the  dry,  sandy  soil ;  and 
four  years  before  his  garden  was  an  unbroken  desert  like  the  rest. 
In  his  house  caterpillers  were  making  silk.  The  linen  of  his 


BRIGHAM  PREACHING  TO  HIS  CONGREGATION. 


coat  and  pantaloons  was 
woven  in  his  own  dwell 
ing  from  his  own  flax; 
and  his  under-clothing 
was  manufactured  in  a 
factory  of  Brigham  Young's  from  cotton  grown  in  the  southern 
counties. 

On  the  second  Sunday,  at  the  Bowery,  the  congregation  num 
bered  fully  five  thousand.  In  accordance  with  the  desire  ex 
pressed  by  Mr.  Colfax,  Brigham  preached.  He  appeared  upon  the 
platform  in  solemn  black.  He  claimed  that  the  Mormons  believe 
implicitly  every  word  of  the  bible ;  said  that  God  created  Adam 
'by  the  only  process  known  to  nature — just  as  men  now  create 
children ;'  cited  history  to  prove  that  polygamy  had  been  sanc 
tioned  both  by  Martin  Luther  and  the  Church  of  England ;  and 
declared  that  an  English  husband  dissatisfied  with  his  wife  could 
even  now  lead  her  to  the  public  market  and  sell  her ! 


1865.]  MIRACLES    OF    THE    TELEGRAPH.  349 

His  sermon  was  shallow  and  disjointed.  A  Mormon  elder  as 
sured  us  that  it  was  the  weakest  he  ever  heard  from  *  the  presi 
dent.'  But  it  had  one  ebullition  of  naturalness.  He  said : 

1  The  Latter-day  Saints  are  the  happiest  people  in  the  world — 
the  most  industrious,  the  most  peaceable  among  themselves.  At 
least  they  would  be,  but  for  a  few  miserable,  stinking  lawyers 
on  Whisky  street,  who  for  five  dollars  will  prove  that  black  is 
white !' 

That  evening  in  the  telegraph  office,  Mr.  Colfax  had  a  pleasant 
chat  with  his  friend  Fred.  MacCrellish  who  chanced  to  be  in  the  San 
Francisco  office  eight  hundred  miles  to  the  west.  The  next  morn 
ing  Governor  Bross  conversed  familiarly  for  half  an  hour  with  a 
member  of  his  family  who  was  in  the  Chicago  office  fifteen  hun 
dred  miles  to  the  east ! 

Up  to  this  time  Brigham  Young  had  never  called  upon  strangers, 
whether  public  men  or  private  citizens,  until  they  had  first  shown 
their  respect  for  his  position  as  president  of  the  Mormon  church, 
by  calling  upon  him.  But  Mr.  Colfax  as  a  Government  official  de 
clined  to  violate  the  etiquette  of  the  civilized  world  by  making  the 
initial  visit.  So  Brigham,  Heber  Kimball,  and  eight  other  church 
leaders  spent  two  hours  with  the  speaker  and  his  party  at  our  hotel. 

In  the  long,  rambling  conversation  which  followed,  Brigham 
observed  that  he  had  dealt  largely  with  Indians  and  whites, 
Mormons  and  Gentiles,  and  if  any  man  could  show  that  he 
had  wronged  him  he  would  restore  it  fourfold  ;•  invited  any  of  us 
who  might  be  (  religiously  inclined '  to  address  his  Saints  on  Sun 
day  ;  and  declared  that  every  dollar  of  gold  taken  out  in  the  United 
States  had  cost  one  hundred  dollars.  It  caused  murders,  anarchy, 
vigilance  committees  and  idleness.  If  the  Mormons  were  to  enact 
the  lawless  scenes  common  to  all  gold  countries,  Government 
troops  would  be  sent  to  subdue  them.  He  referred  to  the  pros 
perity  of  his  people  as  miraculous,  and  pointedly  and  bitterly  re 
peated  :  '  We  cannot  be  annihilated.' 

The  next  day  we  returned  his  visit,  at  a  little  building  between 
his  two  chief  residences,  the  Lion  house  and  Bee-hive  house. 
The  former  receives  its  name  from  a  lion  couchant  over  its  front 
door ;  the  latter  from  a  bee-hive  (the  chosen  device  of  the  Saints,) 
upon  its  dome.  The  porter  at  the  lodge,  a  sentry  box  beside  the 

23 


350    FRANK  DISCUSSION  WITH  BRIGHAM  YOUNG.    [1865. 

gate  in  the  strong  inclosing  wall,  had  a  revolver  hanging  beside 
him ;  but  permitted  us  to  pass,  as  we  were  accompanied  by  a  lead 
ing  Mormon.  '  President '  Young,  with  several  dignitaries  of  the 
church,  received  us  in  his  large,  airy  office,  with  high  walls,  maps, 
photographs  of  prominent  Latter-day  Saints,  a  lithographic  copy 
of  Bierstadt's  Sunlight  and  Shadow,  scales  for  weighing  gold-dust, 
account  books,  desks  and  arm  chairs. 

At  first  the  conversation  was  heavy  and  formal,  though  Brig- 
ham  gave  us  a  good  deal  of  information  about  farming.  Nothing 
is  raised  without  irrigation;  but  water  makes  the  soil  very  pro 
ductive.  Corn  is  more  uncertain  than  small  grains ;  but  sixty 
bushels  to  the  acre  are  a  fair  yield,  and  ninety  have  been  produced. 
He  once  raised  ninety-three  and  a  half  bushels  of  wheat  to  the 
acre ;  ninety  bushels  of  oats  are  not  uncommon.  Many  farmers 
leave  their  cattle  out  in  winter ;  but  they  often  die  from  cold.  Coal 
and  iron  abound,  but  iron  is  not  yet  successfully  smelted. 

A  lively  general  discussion  upon  polygamy  ensued.  Brigham 
defended  it  with  skill,  historically  and  scripturally,  though  admit 
ting  that  even  in  Utah  male  and  female  births  are  about  equal, 
and  a  little  staggered  when  asked  if  that  indicated  that  one  man 
should  have  a  dozen  wives  !  They  had  adopted  { plurality  7  (as 
the  Saints  invariably  term  polygamy)  only  in  accordance  with  a 
special  revelation  from  God.  Their  morality  justified  it.  They 
had  not  a  house  of  prostitution  nor  four  illegitimate  children  in  the 
Territory.  How  did  we  expect  it  to  be  done  away  with  ? 

Mr.  Colfax  suggested  that  he  might  yet  receive  another  special 
revelation — to  stop  it ! 

Brigham  and  his  supporters  earnestly  insisted  that  it  was  a  part 
of  their  religion  with  which  Government  had  no  right  to  inter 
fere  ;  and  were  indignant  at  our  suggestion  that  though  hanging 
witches,  burning  widows  and  sacrificing  human  beings  to  idols  had 
all  been  practiced  as  l  parts  of  religions '  they  would  not  be  tolerated 
by  modern  law  and  civilization.  It  was  the  freest  and  frankest 
discussion  ever  held  in  the  office  of  Brigham  Young. 

Our  stay  in  Salt  Lake  lasted  only  eight  days.  But  three  months 
later  I  returned  to  Utah  alone,  and  spent  five  weeks  among  the 
Saints.  The  notes  in  the  succeeding  chapter  are  from  observations 
during  both  visits. 


1865.]  THE    CITY    OF    THE    FUTURE.  351 


CHAPTER    XXX. 

SALT  LAKE  is  the  city  of  the  future — the  natural  metropolis  of 
all  Utah  and  portions  of  Nevada,  Idaho,  Montana,  and  Colorado. 
It  contains  nearly  twenty  thousand  people,  and  bids  fair  to  con 
tinue  the  largest  city  between  St.  Louis  and  San  Francisco.  The 
overland  telegraph  connects  it  with  the  Atlantic  and  the  Pacific  ; 
mail-coaches  ply  daily  to  Nebraska  and  Kansas  on  the  east,  Cali 
fornia  on  the  west,  Montana  on  the  north,  Idaho  and  Columbia 
river  on  the  northwest,  and  the  Pah  Eanagar  silver  region  four 
hundred  miles  to  the  southwest.  The  hotel  is  usually  crowded 
with  guests;  and  the  streets,  one  hundred  and  twenty -eight  feet 
wide  and  watered  by  little  rills  on  each  side,  are  thronged 
with  the  wagons  of  immigrants  and  farmers,  with  women 
and  children,  Saints  and  sinners,  miners  and  Indians.  Some  of 
the  trading-houses  do  an  immense  business.  A  single  merchant 
has  sold  more  than  a  million  dollars  worth  of  goods  per  annum. 

There  are  two  daily  newspapers :  the  Vedette,  representing  the 
Gentile  population  ;  and  the  Telegraph,  in  the  interest  of  the  Mor 
mons.  The  weekly  Deseret  News,  almost  as  old  as  the  city,  is  the 
organ  of  the  church.  In  a  Territorial  population  of  nearly  one 
hundred  thousand,  all  are  Mormons  except  a  few  hundred,  who 
reside  chiefly  in  Salt  Lake  City. 

Camp  Douglas  is  beautifully  located  on  a  high  plateau,  two 
miles  from  the  city  which  its  artillery  commands.  This  garrisoned 
post  of  the  United  States  army  has  been  a  potent  restraint  upon 
the  despotic. power  of  the  Mormon  church,  as  it  affords  protection 
to  all  men  and  women  who  abandon  that  faith.  Many  recanting 
Saints,  chiefly  wives  dissatisfied  with  polygamy,  have  here  sought 
the  shelter  of  the  national  flag,  and  been  sent  from  the  Territory 
under  military  escort. 


352 


ALL    THE    JEWS    ARE    GENTILES. 


[1865. 


There  is  now  a  flourishing  Gentile  church  and  Sunday-school  in 
the  city,  liberally  supported  by  dissenters  of  every  denomination 
who,  like  all  small  minorities,  are  very  compact,  and  remain  united 
by  the  common  bond  of  antipathy  to  Mormon  rule.  Even  Jews, 
who  are  quite  numerous,  contribute  to  this  church;  and  in  excited 
moments  talk  earnestly  about  *  us  Shentiles.'  In  this  strange  com 
munity  all  the  brethren  are  Saints,  all  the  outsiders  are  sinners, 
and  all  the  Jews  are  Gentiles ! 

Joseph  Smith  founder  of  the  Mormon  hierarchy,  was  a  native 
of  Yermont,  who  claimed  that  the  book  of  Mormon,  the  bible  of 
the  Latter-day  Saints,  buried  in  the  earth,  was  pointed  out  to  him 
by  the  angel  Moroni;  that,  digging  it  up,  he  found  it  written 
upon  metallic  plates  in  mysterious  characters,  which  a  special 
revelation  from  God  enabled  him  to  translate.  Claiming  to  be  the 
production  of  several  writers,  it  is  about  as  large  as  the  Old  Testa 
ment,  of  which  it  is  a  weak,  incoherent  and  vapid  imjtation.  Sev 
eral  hundred  of  its  verses  are  stolen  with  very  slight  alterations 
from  the  New  Testament,  which  according  to  Mormon  chronology 
was  written  hundreds  of  years  later  than  their  own  inspired  vol 
ume.  Singularly  enough,  it  contains  many  denunciations  of  poly 
gamy ;  but  consistency  is  a  jewel  rarely  found  in  the  casket  of  the 

Latter-day  Saints.  Smith  possessed 
great  .force  of  character  and  busi 
ness  sagacity,  and  was  said  to  have 
accumulated  a  fortune  of  some 
millions  of  dollars. 

Brigham  Young,  who  succeed 
ed  Joseph  Smith  in  the  'first 
presidency'  of  the  church,  was 
also  born  in  Yermont.  He  is  six 
feet  high,  portly,  weighing  about 
two  hundred,  in  his  sixty-sixth 
year,  and  wonderfully  well-pre 
served.  His  face  resembles  that 
of  the  late  Thomas  H.  Benton,  though  with  a  suggestion  of  gross- 
ness  about  the  puffed  cheeks  and  huge  neck  which  Old  Bul 
lion  never  gave.  His  cheek  is  fresh  and  unwrinkled ;  his  step 
agile  and  elastic;  his  curling,  auburn  hair  and  whiskers  untinged 


BRIGHAM   YOUNG. 


1865.]          PERSONAL  DESCRIPTION   OF  BRIGHAM.  353 

with  gray.  Is  lie  a  new  Ponce  de  Leon,  who  has  found  in 
polygamy  the  fountain  of  perpetual  youth? 

He  has  grayish-blue,  secretive  eyes,  eagle  nose,  and  mouth  that 
shuts  like  a  vice,  indicating  tremendous  firmness.  He  uses  neither 
tea  nor  coffee,  spirits  nor  tobacco.  With  an  affable  and  dignified 
manner  he  manifests  the  unmistakable'  egotism  of  one  having 
authority.  In  little  ebullitions  of  earnestness  he  speaks  right  at 
people,  using  his  dexter  forefinger  with  emphasis,  to  point  a  moral. 
He  treats  the  brethren  with  warmth,  throwing  his  arm  caressingly 
about  them  and  asking  carefully  after  the  wives  and  babies. 

Provincialisms  of  his  Vermont  boyhood  and  his  western  man 
hood  still  cling  to  him.  He  says  *  leetle,'  *  bey  end '  and  '  disre- 
member.'  An  irrepressible  conflict  between  his  nominatives  and 
verbs,  crops  out  in  expressions  like  '  they  was.' 

He  has  observed  much,  thought  much,  and  mingled  much  with, 
practical  men;  but  seems  unfamiliar  with  the  usages  of  cultivated 
society.  Yet  those  who  hold  him  a  cheap  charlatan  are  wilder 
if  possible  than  the  Saints  who  receive  him  as  an  angel  of  light, 
or  those  Gentiles  who  denounce  him  as  a  goblin  damned.  A  strik 
ing  embodiment  of  the  One-man  Power,  he  holds  a  hundred  thou 
sand  people  in  the  hollow  of  his  hand.  Gathered  from  every 
nation,  always  poor,  usually  ignorant,  sometimes  vicious,  he  has 
molded  them  into  an  industrious,  productive,  honest  and  homo 
geneous  community.  As  a  class  they  have  doubtless  improved 
their  condition  by  settling  in  Utah.  Owning  the  most  desirable 
property  at  home  and  well-husbanded  investments  in  England,  he 
is  one  of  the  millionares  of  the  United  States.  He  is  universally 
popular  among  the  Saints  and  rules  them  with  utmost  ease.  He 
is  a  man  of  brains,  who  would  have  achieved  great  success  in  any 
walk  of  life.  Many  believe  him  an  imposter  and  an  atheist.  But 
I  fancy  he  is  that  combination  so  frequent  in  history,  half-deceiver 
and  half-fanatic. 

He  has  great  knowledge  of  human  nature  and  rare  business 
capacity,  and  is  reputed  kind-hearted  and  just  in  his  commercial 
dealings.  All  Mormons  are  required  to  pay  one-tenth  of  their  in 
comes  annually  to  the  church ;  and,  so  far  as  a  Gentile  can  see, 
Brigham  is  the  church  and  the  church  is  Brigham. 

His  inclosure  of  ten  acres  in  the  very  heart  of  the  city  is  sur- 


354 


AN    HOUR    IN    BRIGHAM'S    SCHOOL. 


[1865. 


rounded  by  a  wall,  eleven  feet  high,  of  bowlders  laid  in  mortar.  It 
contains  his  two  chief  dwellings,  the  Lion  House  and  the  Bee-hive 
House.  In  them  reside  most  of  his  wives,  though  a  few  favorite 


BRIGIIAAl'S   RESIDENCES,    LION   HOUSE    AND   BEE-HIVE   HOUSE. 

ones  occupy  separate  dwellings  outside.  The  inclosure  contains 
various  other  buildings  for  his  domestic  and  business  purposes,  and 
ample,  well-kept  gardens  abounding  in  flowers  and  fruits. 

Babies  seem  indigenous  to  Salt  Lake.  Their  abundance  through 
all  the  streets  causes  wonder  till  one  remembers  that  they  are  the 
only  product  of  the  soil  which  does  not  require  irrigation. 

By  Brigham's  invitation  I  spent  an  hour  in  his  school.  Its  reg 
ister  bore  the  names  of  thirty -four  pupils ;  three,  Brigham's  grand 
children;  all  the  rest  his  own  sons  and  daughters.  There  were 
twenty-eight  present,  from  four  to  seventeen  years  old,  on  the 
whole  looking  brighter  and  more  intelligent  than  the  children  of 
any  other  school  I  ever  visited. 

"With  three  of  the  prophet's  daughters  I  had  some  conversation. 


1865.]       THIRTY    WIVES    AND    SIXTY    CHILDREN.  355 

Their  language  is  good,  and  their  manners  graceful.  One  has  a 
classic  face ;  and  another  is  so  pretty  that  half  the  young  men  of 
the  church  are  in  love  with  her.  Afterward,  I  visited  the  ward 
schools  of  the  city.  There,  the  foreheads  are  narrow  and  the 
average  intelligence  low.  Tuition  costs  from  four  to  ten  dollars  a 
quarter.  There  are  no  free  schools  in  Utah. 

Though  Brigham  has  buried  eight  sons  and  two  daughters,  he 
has  fifty  surviving  children  and  several  grandchildren.  His  wives 
number  about  thirty ;  he  increases  the  list  by  one  or  two  additions 
yearly.  The  first  and  eldest  is  matronly  and  well-looking ;  all  the 
later  ones  I  saw  are  exceedingly  plain  and  unattractive.  Among 
the  present  generation  of  Mormons,  the  men  are  far  more  intelli 
gent  and  cultivated  than  the  women. 

The  Gentiles  relate  many  stories  at  the  expense  of  the  leading 
patriarch  of  the  Saints.  He  is  the  grand  supreme  court  of  all 
his  people ;  to  him  they  carry  their  troubles  for  relief,  and  their 
disagreements  for  adjustment.  It  is  said  that  one  day  a  woman 
went  to  Brigham  for  counsel  touching  some  alleged  oppression 
by  an  officer  of  the  church.  Brigham,  like  a  true  politician,  as 
sumed  to  know  her ;  but  when  it  became  necessary  to  record  hei 
case,  hesitated  and  said : 

'  Let  me  see,  sister — I  forget  your  name.' 

1  My  name !'  was  the  indignant  reply ;  *  why,  I  am  your  wife !' 

*  When  did  I  marry  you?' 

The  woman  informed  the  'president,'  who  referred  to  an  ac 
count  book  in  his  desk,  and  then  said : 

'  Well,  I  believe  you  are  right.     I  knew  your  face  was  familiar !' 

The  Saints  are  fraternal.  There  are  no  misters  or  esquires 
among  them.  Every  body  is  Brother  A,  or  Sister  B. 

Twenty  miles  from  the  city  is  the  Great  Salt  Lake,  containing 
seven  islands,  all  of  rugged  mountains.  Though  four  fresh  rivers 
flow  in,  it  has  no  visible  outlet,  and  is  bitterly  salt.  At  lowest 
stage,  three  gallons  of  its  fluid  produce  one  of  clear  fine  salt. 
Its  specific  gravity  is  said  to  be  greater  than  that  of  any  other 
known  body  of  water  except  the  Dead  Sea.  According  to  Marcy, 
one  hundred  parts  of  Salt  Lake  water  contain,  after  evaporation, 
twenty-two  and  one-half  per  cent,  solid  matter ;  one  hundred  parts 
of  Dead  Sea  water,  twenty-four  and  one-half  per  cent.  The  Dead 


356  GREAT    SALT    LAKE    AND    THE    DEAD    SEA.     [1865. 

Sea  is  thirteen  hundred  feet  below  the  Mediterranean ;  Salt  Lake 
forty-two  hundred  feet  above  the  ocean.  Both  receive  fresh  water 
Jordans.  Both  are  so  buoyant  that  one  finds  it  difficult  to  wade 
in  them,  floats  with  ease,  and  could  hardly  drown  save  by  stran 
gulation.  Neither  has  any  known  outlet.  The  Dead  Sea  is  said 
to  contain  one  species  of  fish.  Salt  Lake  is  believed  to  hold  no 
animal  life.  The  Dead  Sea  is  forty  miles  by  ten ;  Salt  Lake, 
forty  by  one  hundred  and  twenty. 

We  had  a  delightful  swim  in  the  lake,  though  the  least  quantity 
of  its  stinging  water  in  nose,  eyes  or  mouth  made  us  very  un 
comfortable.  When  we  came  out  we  were  incrusted  with  salt 
from  head  to  foot,  and  compelled  to  wash  it  off  with  fresh  water. 

Then  we  took  a  sail  in  a  little  sloop,  which  we  all  found  enjoy 
able  except  Mr.  Colfax,  who  suffered  greatly  from  sea-sickness. 
Lake  Utah,  thirty  miles  distant,  is  a  clear,  shining,  mountain-envi 
roned  body  of  fresh  water,  twenty  miles  by  thirty.  The  silvery 
Jordan  has  its  origin  here,  and  hence  flows  across  the  beautiful 
valley  into 'Salt  Lake. 

I  frequently  attended  worship  at  the  Bowery.  The  congrega 
tion  usually  numbered  three  or  four  thousand,  and  women 
largely  predominated.  They  were  neatly  but  very  plainly 
dressed ;  kid  gloves  were  few,  silks  and  satins  far  between. 
Hoops  abounded  in  all  their  amplitude.  At  first,  the  preachers 
denounced  them  bitterly  from  the  pulpit ;  but,  as  usual,  feminine 
persistency  triumphed,  and  crinoline  proved  more  potent  than  the 
thunderbolts  of  the  church. 

Brigham  is  the  favorite  speaker,  though  he  does  not  preach  more 
than  once  a  month.  His  sermons  are  insequential  and  illiterate. 
Heber  C.  Kimball  first  vice-president,  second  only  to  Brigham  in 
authority,  and  the  father  of  fifty  children,  is  very  voluble  in  the 
pulpit,  always  profane  and  frequently  obscene  in  his  harangues. 
Indeed,  many  sermons  from  Brigham,  Heber  and  others  of  that 
ilk  are  utterly  indecent,  though  some  speakers  are  entirely  deco 
rous. 

From  the  Sunday  desk  preachers  frequently  speak  of  the  crops,  and 
best  modes  of  irrigation ;  exhort  the  brethren  to  be  honest  and  de 
vout  ;  and  advise  them  whether  to  sell  their  wheat  forthwith  or  hold 
it  for  an  advance.  They  also  read  a  list  of  letters  for  the  remote 


1865.] 


SUNDAY    SERVICE    OF    THE    MORMONS. 


357 


'WHY,  i  AM  YOUR  WIFE!' 


settlements,  some,  four  hundred  miles  away,  that  they  may  be  sent 
by  private  hand  to  their  destination.  The  singing,  with  no  instru 
mental  accompaniment  except  a  melodeon,  is  admirable. 

Every  Sunday,  sacra 
ment  is  administered  to 
the  entire  assembly,  bread 
being  distributed  upon  me 
tallic  plates,  and  water,  in 
stead  of  wine,  from  porce 
lain  pitchers.  Infants  at 
the  breast  are  all  permitted 
to  quaff  the  water  freely. 
The  poor  babies  are  thirsty 
enough;  but  it  detracts  a 
little  from  the  solemnity  of 
the  ceremony. 

My  chief  interest  was  in 
the  faces  of  the  congrega 
tion.  Few  of  the  women 
are  comely;  but  very  few  of  the  countenances  impress  one  as 
vicious.  Nearly  all  are  plain — many  extremely  so.  As  we 
might  expect  in  humble  people  gathered  from  every  nation,  they 
bear  the  indelible  impress  of  poverty,  hard  labor  and  stinted 
living.  In  those  faces  is  little  breadth,  thought  or  self-reliant  rea 
soning,  but  much  narrowness,  grave  sincerity  and  unreflecting 
earnestness. 

The  ordinary  sermons  are  homilies  on  industry  and  frugality — 
praises  of  polygamy,  recital  of  God's  peculiar  protection  to  the 
Mormon  church,  and  bitter  denunciation  of  the  Government  and 
people  of  the  United  States.  With  the  exception  of  the  political 
tone  and  the  inevitable  labored  defense  of  polygamy,  many  of  the 
discourses  are  such  as  one  hears  in  an  average  New  England  or 
thodox  church.  Indeed,  plurality  of  wives  is  the  only  distinctive 
feature  of  their  faith  and  practice.  Mormonism  is  polygamy  and 
polygamy  is  Mormonism. 

The  Saints'  theater  is  the  grand  wonder  of  Salt  Lake  City.  It 
was  built  by  Brigham  while  the  town  was  yet  almost  a  thousand  miles 
from  the  steamboat  or  the  railway ;  and  it  cost  a  quarter  of  a  million 


358  BRIGHAM'S  GREAT  THEATER.  [1865. 

of  dollars.  Its  walls  are  of  brick  and  rough  stone,  covered  with 
stucco.  It  will  seat  eighteen  hundred  persons ;  and  is  the  largest 
building  of  the  kind  west  of  New  York,  except  the  Chicago  opera 
house.  The  proscenium  is  sixty  feet  deep.  In  the  middle  of  the 
parquet  is  an  armed  rocking-chair,  which  Brigham  sometimes  oc 
cupies,  though  his  usual  place  is  one  of  the  two  private  boxes.  It 
is  open  three  nights  in  the  week,  when  the  parquet  is  filled  by  the 
families  of  the  leading  polygamists.  The  Gentiles  sit  in  the  dress 
circle  and  galleries.  The  scenery,  painted  in  Salt  Lake  City,  and 
the  costumes,  all  made  there  from  goods  purchased  in  the  eastern 
States,  are  exquisite.  The  wardrobe  is  very  large  and  rich,  varied 
enough  for  the  entire  standard  and  minor  drama,  from  the  sables  of 
Hamlet  to  the  drapery  of  the  ballet  girl.  With  two  exceptions, 
the  company  are  all  amateurs — Mormons,  who  perform  gratuit 
ously,  and  with  whom  it  is  a  labor  of  love  and  piety.  Playing  in 
*  Box  and  Cox '  or  '  Richard  the  Third '  is  a  novel  way  of  increas« 
ing  one's  chances  of  heaven ;  but  Brigham  is  the  church,  and  they 
do  unquestioningly  whatever  the  church  requires. 

By  day  the  performers  are  engaged  in  their  regular  pursuits,  as 
clerks  or  mechanics ;  and  they  rehearse  only  in  the  evening.  Dra 
matic  entertainments  have  ever  been  a  leading  feature  of  the  Mor 
mon  faith ;  and  these  actors  play  exceedingly  well.  In  scenery 
and  dressing  also,  only  three  or  four  metropolitan  theaters  in  the 
United  States  equal  this  in  the  heart  of  the  American  desert.  The 
performers  are  never  stagy.  Whatever  they  lack  in  art  they  make 
up  in  freshness  and  freedom  from  the  mannerisms,  especially  the 
stilted  and  unnatural  readings,  of  old  actors.  When  a  young  lady 
of  high  dramatic  talent  presented  herself  to  the  veteran  Wallack, 
he  gave  her  a  favorable  engagement  on  the  express  condition  that 
she  should  not  take  a  single  lesson  in  elocution. 

During  the  season  of  my  second  visit,  the  receipts  of  Brigham's 
theater  averaged  eight  hundred  dollars  per  night ;  and  one  evening 
they  reached  thirteen  hundred  dollars.  Mrs.  Julia  Dean  Cooper 
was  filling  a  long  star  engagement  at  two  hundred  dollars  per 
night.  At  first  she  found  the  audiences,  or  as  Gail  Hamilton 
would  call  them,  the  vidiences,  curiously  fresh  and  inexperienced. 
When  she  played  in  '  East  Lynne  ' — that  terrible  satire  on  the  hard 
ness  and  injustice  of  narrow  but  conscientious  men — the  lookers- 


1865.]     DWELLERS    AMONG  THE    MOUNTAIN-TOPS.          359 

on  were  moved  to  sobs ;  and  tears  even  streamed  from  the  eyes  of 
Brigham,  who  sat  in  his  private  box.  But  Lady  Isabel  is  perhaps 
the  most  pathetic  character  in  the  whole  range  of  the  legitimate  or 
sensational  drama.  It  is  difficult  for  an  old  stager  to  see  it  well 
represented,  without  making  what  Sam  Weller  calls  '  a  water  cart 
of  hisself.'  *  Camille '  produced  still  greater  sensation.  During 
the  last  scene  the  audience  was 

'LikeNiobe,  all  tears.' 

One  old  lady  left  her  seat,  passed  through  the  private  entrance 
and  rushed  upon  the  stage  with  a  glass  of  water  for  the  dying  girl. 
Another  declared  in  a  voice  audible  throughout  the  house : 

'  It  is  a  shame  for  President  Young  to  let  that  poor  lady  play 
when  she  has  such  a  terrible  cough  !' 

Brigham  shows  unequaled  sagacity  in  strengthening  the  church 
and  putting  money  in  his  purse,  by  the  same  operation.  He 
says : 

1  The  people  must  have  amusement ;  human  nature  demands  it. 
If  healthy  and  harmless  diversions  are  not  attainable,  they  will 
seek  those  which  are  vicious  and  degrading.' 

Therefore  he  built  this  Thespian  temple,  which  spiritually 
refreshes  all  the  Saints  of  Utah,  and  increases  his  personal  income 
fifty  thousand  dollars  annually. 

The  Salt  Lake  valley  is  walled  in  by  green  mountains  from  four 
to  ten  thousand  feet  high,  and  of  every  hue,  from  the  deep,  black 
ish-green  of  the  pines  on  the  foot-hills,  to  the  dazzling  white  of 
the  snow  upon  the  summits.  Many  of  these  peaks,  intersected  by 
narrow  canyons,  are  torn  and  furrowed  to  their  very  hearts,  and 
sometimes  cleft  asunder  from  head  to  foot. 

Utah,  the  name  of  an  Indian  tribe,  signifies  c  those  who  dwell  on 
the  mountains.'  The  Mormons,  almost  a  mile  above  the  sea,  in 
view  of  some  of  the  finest  scenery  in  the  world,  are  indeed  dwell 
ers  among  the  mountain-tops. 

The  great  basin,  six  hundred  miles  by  three  hundred,  extending 
from  the  Kocky  Mountains  to  the  Sierra  Nevadas,  seems  to  have 
been  a  vast  inland  sea.  Strictly  speaking  it  is  a  series  of  basins, 
of  which  the  one  containing  Salt  Lake  is  the  longest — all  dotted 
and  inclosed  by  isolated  peaks  and  irregular  ranges.  The  imme- 


880 


SAGACITY    OF    THE    MORMON    LEADERS.        [1865. 


diate  valley  in  which  Salt  Lake  City  lies  is  much  its  best  portion. 
With  irrigation  the  soil  is  very  productive.  Settlements  of  the 
Saints  extend  hundreds  of  miles  in  all  directions.  Almost  every 
valley  in  Utah  is  dotted  with  little  dwellings  of  adobe,  herds  of 


THE   GREAT  SALT  LAKE. 

cattle,  flocks  of  sheep,  great  stacks  of  hay  and  barley,  and  thriving 
young  orchards. 

Probably  eight-ninths  of  the  Mormons  are  of  foreign  birth. 
Many  are  English,  while  Norway  and  Sweden  are  largely  repre 
sented.  They  thrive  in  spite  of  their  heavy,  enforced  contribu 
tions  to  the  church;  for  the  leaders  are  men  of  rare  sagacity  who 
steadfastly  inculcate  industry,  frugality,  temperance  and  peace- 
fulness. 

Not  more  than  one  man  in  four  or  five  is  a  polygamist.  Brig- 
ham  exhorts  them  to  persevere  in  the  system  and  defend  it  with 
their  lives,  even  against  the  Government  of  the  United  States. 
The  women  regard  it  as  a  sore  trial,  to  be  compensated  only  by 
the  happiness  of  eternity.  Often  two  or  three  sisters  have  the 


1865.]        PRACTICAL    WORKINGS    OF    POLYGAMY.  361 

same  husband.  Some  men  are  married  to  a  mother  and  her  daugh 
ter  ;  others  to  their  own  half-sisters.  When  possible,  each  wife  oc 
cupies  a  separate  house  or  room  ;  but  poverty  sometimes  compels 
three  or  four  to  live  in  the  same  apartments.  I  think  they  never 
bring  in  the  mothers-in-law.  Even  Mormon  grace  would  hardly 
suffice  for  that ! 

The  Gentile  women  recognize  and  visit  only  the  first  wives.  I 
conversed  alone  with  three  Mormon  ladies  on  their  system.  Two 
were  young  and  unmarried.  The  first  was  an  active  member  of 
the  church,  and  apparently  an  earnest  believer  in  its  doctrines. 
She  spoke  of  it  with  great  ardor,  manifesting  the  anxiety  universal  in 
the  entire  community  for  the  respect  and  commendation  of  stran 
gers.  She  laid  great  stress  upon  the  honesty,  frugality  and  hospi 
tality  of  the  people,  the  kindness  and  justice  of  the  leaders  in  all 
their  dealings,  and  the  special  favor  and  protection  of  the  Almighty 
which  their  history  seemed  to  imply.  But  to  my  remark  that  I 
liked  every  thing  I  saw  except  polygamy,  she  answered  ingen 
uously  : 

'  Well,  /  don't  like  that,  and  I  don't  know  of  anybody  who 
does !' 

The  second,  though  reared  in  the  faith,  and  nominally  one  of 
the  Saints,  had  steadfastly  refused  all  offers  of  marriage.  She 
regarded  the  leaders  as  charlatans,  declared  she  would  die  rather 
than  wed  in  a  community  where  plurality  of  wives  was  tolerated, 
and  would  leave  the  Territory  but  for  family  ties.  A  few  months 
later  she  did  leave,  to  become  the  wife  of  a  Gentile. 

The  third  was  the  wife  of  a  prominent  Saint.  I  had  already 
formed  her  acquaintance  in  public,  and  now  I  encountered  her 
accidentally  for  ten  minutes  in  a  Gentile  parlor.  Again  and  again 
had  I  heard  her  husband  aver  that  the  women  not  merely  acqui 
esced  in  polygamy,  but  often  urged  their  consorts  to  take  addi 
tional  wives.  After  some  general  conversation  she  asked : 

'  What  is  the  most  noticeable  thing  you  find  among  us  ?' 

1  The  peacefulness  of  the  rival  wives.  The  fact  that  they  not 
only  refrain  from  breaking  each  others'  heads,  but  generally  seem 
friendly,  sometimes  even  affectionate'.' 

lThat  is  from  strong  religious  conviction.  Nothing  else 
could  produce  it.  I  believe  our  women  are  better,  more  patient 


362  ONE    WIFE    TOO    MANY.  [1865. 

than  any  others  in  the  world.  Nobody  knows  the  severity  of  the 
trials  they  have  to  endure.' 

'  Your  people  have  treated  us  with  the  greatest  courtesy,  and 
shown  us  much  which  excites  our  sympathy  and  admiration. 
They  have  exhibited  little  of  your  home-life ;  but  that  little  only 
confirms  my  previous  belief  that  to  give  another  woman  the  sacred 
name  of  wife,  is  the  greatest  crime,  the  last  possible  outrage  a  man 
can  commit  against  his  own  wife  and  the  mother  of  his  children.' 

The  lady  replied  in  painful  earnestness,  with  teeth  clinched  and 
every  muscle  tense : 

*  Certainly  it  is !     I  would  rather  see  my  daughter  in  her  shroud 
than  married  to  a  pluralist.' 

The  first  wife  deems  herself  superior  to  the  rest,  sometimes  re 
fusing  to  associate  or  speak  with  them,  or  to  recognize  the  legiti 
macy  of  their  marriage. 

'Are  you  Mr. 's  only  wife  ?'  asked  a  Gentile  of  a  Mormon 

lady. 

*  I  am,'  was  the  reply ;  '  though  several  other  women  call  them 
selves  his  wives !' 

We  were  told  of  one  poor  fellow  with  a  pair  of  wives,  in  a 
single  house  containing  but  two  rooms.  When  he  brought  home 
his  second  spouse,  the  first  indignantly  repudiated  him  and  would  no 
longer  even  speak  to  him.  Soon  after,  the  second  wife  also  refused 
to  serve  him  further ;  and  the  luckless  man  was  sleeping  alone 
upon  the  floor  of  his  cabin  and  doing  his  own  cooking,  washing 
and  mending,  while  his  consorts  were  at  least  agreed  in  hating  him 
cordially !  Like  old  Weller  he  had  '  done  it  once  too  often.' 

We  dined  at  the  house  of  a  leading  Saint,  whose  two  wives 
present  at  the  board,  but  only  as  waiters,  were  dressed  precisely 
alike  and  really  seemed  to  regard  each  other  as  sisters. 

One  portly  brother  has  a  wife  in  nearly  every  village ;  so  that 
when  he  makes  the  annual  tour  of  the  Territory  with  Brigham,  he 
can  always  stay  in  his  own  house  and  with  his  own  family! 
Polygamy  is  at  least  self-sustaining ;  the  women  are  expected  to 
support  themselves. 

Many  grave  crimes  including  cold-blooded  murders  are  alleged 
against  the  Mormons  in  past  years,  and  there  were  two  peculiarly 
atrocious  assassinations  in  Salt  Lake  City  in  1866.  The  first  victim, 


1865.]        ASSASSINATIONS    IN    SALT    LAKE    CITY.  363 

Brassfield,  had  married  the  second  wife  of  a  Saint,  and  was  subjected 
to  several  harassing  suits  in  the  Mormon  courts  upon  charges  of 
stealing  her  clothing,  (from  her  husband !)  and  the  like.  While 
walking  the  streets,  in  the  custody  of  an  officer,  he  was  shot  down 
by  a  concealed  assassin,  the  only  instance  of  the  kind  in 
American  history.  The  second,  Dr.  J.  K.  Eobinson,  a  Gentile 
physician  of  high  character  practicing  in  Salt  Lake  City,  had  in 
curred  hostility  by  contesting  in  the  courts  the  ownership  of  the 
Warm  Spring  against  the  city  government.  His  property  was 
entirely  destroyed  by  the  municipal  authorities,  and  after  receiving 
several  anonymous  warnings  to  leave,  he  was  decoyed  from  his 
residence  at  midnight  to  visit  a  wounded  man.  Kesponding  to 
this  call  of  humanity,  he  went  out  into  the  darkne&s,  and  was 
cruelly  murdered  near  his  own  threshold.  Neither  assassin  was 
apprehended,  though  the  pervading  eye  and  far-reaching  arm  of 
the  church  could  have  secured  them  without  the  least  difficulty, 
had  Brigham  and  the  other  unscrupulous  leaders  desired  to  have 
them  found  and  punished. 

In  all  new  countries  scarcity  of  money  is  the  mother  of  inven 
tion.  Before  gold  discoveries  in  California,  hides,  the  general 
circulating  medium,  were  called  California  bank-notes.  Wheat 
and  beaver-skins  were  the  early  currency  of  Oregon,  tobacco  of 
Virginia,  and  'coon-skins  of  Cincinnati.  In  the  last-named  city, 
after  the  introduction  of  specie,  silver  dollars  were  cut  into  fifths 
or  tenths  to  make  change.  The  former  passed  as  quarters  and  the 
latter  as  halves,  the  rapacious  originators  of  the  scheme  retaining 
the  extra  twenty  per  cent,  to  pay  them  for  cutting  the  coins ! 
Whether  from  their  wedge-shape,  or  in  satire  upon  the  persons  who 
made  them,  these  pieces  were  called  '  sharp-shins.'  They  acquired 
general  circulation. 

The  early  settlers  of  Utah,  like  those  of  California,  Oregon  and 
Colorado,  coined  their  domestic  gold,  dug  from  the  mountains,  for 
the  purposes  of  commerce.  A  few  of  these  primitive  pieces  are 
still  in  existence. 

It  is  now  twenty  years  since  the  Mormon  pioneers — one  hundred 
and  thirty-nine  men  and  four  women — reached  the  site  of  their 
present  capital.  Their  prophet  killed,  themselves  exiles  from 
Missouri  and  Illinois,  after  a  weary  journey  of  many  months  they 


364 


EARLY    TRIALS    OF    THE    PIONEERS. 


[1865. 


AN  EARLY  MORMON  COIN. 

[G(real)  S(alt)  L(ake)  C(ity.) 
P(ure) 


reached  this  basin  to  struggle  for  existence  with  the  unkindly  soil, 
with  Indians  and  with  Mexicans.  They  claim  that  they  left  the 
Missouri  with  no  definite  point  of  settlement ;  that  on  the  route 
Brigham  Young  saw  in  a  vision  a  beautiful  mountain-guarded 
valley,  which  heaven  assured  him  was  their  future  home ;  that  on 
coming  in  view  of  Ensign  Peak,  the  Jordan  and  the  great  Salt 
Lake,  he  instantly  exclaimed:  'Here  is  the  spot!' 

Immediately  upon  arrival  they  knelt  down  and  thanked  God 

for  his  guidance  and  protection. 
The  same  day  they  commenced  plow 
ing.  An  old  trader,  the  only  white 
man  within  hundreds  of  miles,  de 
clared  that  he  would  give  a  thousand 
dollars  for  the  first  ear  of  corn  they 
could  raise  from  the  parched  and 
barren  soil.  But  there  is  always  a 
future  for  settlers  who  pray  and  then 
go  to  plowing.  How  this  strange 
beginning  carries  one  back  to  that  other  despised  band  which 
landed  at  Plymouth  on  a  dreary  December  morning ! 

Snowy  winters  and  rainless  summers,  hostile  Indians  and  all- 
devouring  grasshoppers  did  not  dishearten  the  Mormons.  Like 
other  historic  emigrants,  they  combined  strong  religious  enthusiasm 
with  great  wisdom  in  practical  affairs.  They  learned  this  new 
agriculture;  established  homes;  began  to  have  cattle  upon  a 
thousand  hills ;  contributed  largely  from  their  lean  purses  to  the 
church,  sending  missionaries  all  over  the  world.  The  great  deluge 
of  California  migration  furnished  a  market  for  their  grain  and 
beef.  Even  Johnston's  army,  sent  out  to  restrain  and  if  needful 
to  subdue  them,  purchased  their  crops  and  added  to  their  wealth ; 
and  when  it  departed  eastward,  left  wagons  and  guns,  enormous 
quantities  of  iron,  which  proved  of  priceless  value  to  them. 

Nevada  and  Idaho  silver,  and  California,  Colorado  and  Montana 
gold  have  contributed  vastly  to  their  prosperity.  How  can  farmers 
fail  to  grow  rich  where  flour  commands  ten  dollars  per  hundred 
throughout  the  year  ?  They  have  made  the  treeless  desert  indeed 
blossom  as  the  rose,  and  laid  the  foundations  for  a  rich  and  pros 
perous  State. 


1865.]       HOW    THE    PROBLEM    WILL    BE    SOLVED.  565 

But  it  is  an  anomaly  in  our  civilization,  that  a  church  more  rigid 
than  that  of  Rome,  with  a  domestic  system  utterly  defying  the  laws 
of  all  enlightened  nations  in  modern  times,  should  exist  in  the 
center  of  our  continent,  openly  nullifying  the  statutes  and 
authority  of  the  national  Government.  Yet  the  problem  will  soon 
be  solved  by  natural  laws.  Polygamy,  like  that  other  patriarchial 
institution  which  is  laid  in  the  tomb  of  the  Capulets,  can  not 
exist  without  isolation. 

Thus  far  Brigham  has  kept  his  followers  from  working  the  rich 
mines  of  silver  and  gold  which  the  mountains  contain.  This 
sagacious  policy  has  preserved  his  power,  and  greatly  increased 
the  prosperity  of  his  people.  But  within  three  years  Utah  will 
contain  a  large  mining  population,  composed  exclusively  of  men. 
The  miners  are  great  iconoclasts ;  and  human  nature  will  triumph. 

The  majority  of  the  women  will  no  longer  accept  one  undivided 
half  or  sixth  of  a  husband — in  some  cases  a  very  vulgar  fraction 
indeed — when  a  full  unit  is  attainable.  They  already  show  strong 
proclivities  for  running  away  with  Grentiles.  Many  have  married 
Federal  soldiers  and  prove  excellent  wives  and  mothers. 

'  By  and  by,'  said  one  of  our  stage  drivers,  *  I  shall  take  one  of 
these  second  Mormon  wives  myself.  Only  the  first  marriage  is 
good  in  law ;  none  of  the  later  ones  are  worth  a  cuss.' 

The  future  miners  will  agree  with  him.  Many  will  take  the 
superfluous  women,  to  find  them  faithful,  affectionate  and  honest. 

Within  three  years,  too,  the  screaming  of  the  locomotive  will 
be  heard  in  Salt  Lake  City.  Perchance  the  splendid  Mormon 
temple  now  rising  may  yet  be  the  depot  of  the  great  Pacific  rail 
road.  Brought  in  contact  with  our  national  civilization,  the 
power  of  Brigham  and  his  associates  will  cease  forever ;  and  the 
one  repulsive  and  monstrous  feature  of  their  domestic  life  no 
longer  stain  a  community  whose  history  contains  much  to  challenge 
respect  and  admiration. 

24 


366  FROM    SALT    LAKE    CITY    WESTWARD.  [1865. 


CHAPTER    XXXI. 


FROM  Salt  Lake  we  continued  our  journey  westward  by  the 
daily  coaches.  The  stations  are  ten  or  twelve  miles  apart.  When 
the  vehicle  rolls  up,  whatever  the  hour  of  day  or  night,  the  stable 
is  opened,  four  or  six  clean  glossy  horses,  in  shining  harness,  are 
led  out  and  substituted  for  the  dusty  panting  steeds ;  and  in  five 
or  eight  minutes  the  stage  whirls  on. 

During  Indian  hostilities  the  coaches  are  seldom  taken  off,  and 
drivers  and  superintendents  manifest  great  daring  in  carrying  the 
mail  through  the  darkness,  over  lonely  and  dangerous  desert  roads. 
One  night  the  coach  containing  no  passengers  save  a  woman  and 
child,  reached  a  Nevada  station,  without  any  driver.  Three  miles 
back,  overcome  by  sleep,  he  had  fallen  from  the  box,  and  the 
wheels  passed  over  and  killed  him. 

The  Overland  Telegraph,  which  Indians  call  'the  long  tongue,' 
follows  the  mail  route.  We  passed  Lake  Utah,  shining  among 
the  mountains  in  quiet  beauty  ;  crossed  the  Jordan,  the  last  stream 
for  four  hundred  miles,  and  rolled  out  upon  the  treeless,  ashen 
desert,  where  fine  alkaline  dust  constantly  enveloped  us  in  'a  pillar 
of  cloud.' 

At  one  lonely  adobe  station  we  encountered  my  old  acquain 
tance,  'Lo,  the  poor  Indian,'  in  the  form  of  a  ragged  sorry -looking 
Goshoot  who  had  been  waiting  for  two  days  to  see  Mr.  Colfax. 
He  asked  which  was  the  '  great  capitan ;'  then  bestowed  upon  the 
speaker  a  long  stare  of  curiosity  and  seeming  approval,  for  he 
concluded  with  a  grunt  of  '  Good !'  and  the  request  for  a  little 
1  tobac.'  This  man  had  been  a  steadfast  friend  of  the  whites ; 
yet  during  the  hostilities  two  years  before,  our  soldiers  killed  his 
wife  and  children  in  their  own  lodge,  through  a  mistake.  When 


1865.]  EIGHT    MILES    IN    THIRTY    MINUTES.  367 

speaking  of  it  he  threw  himself  upon  the  ground,  beating  his 
head  in  the  agony  of  remembrance.  I  should  sympathize  more 
with  the  general  frontier  feeling  that  the  Indians  ought  to  be 
exterminated,  had  I  not  known  many  cases  of  these  lamentable 
1  mistakes,'  to  say  nothing  of  gross  and  premeditated  baibarities. 
I  am  no  believer  in  the  Noble  Savage.  If  he  ever  existed  cutside 
of  Cooper's  romances,  he  was  long  ago  extinct.  The  Indian  is 
cruel,  bloodthirsty  and  treacherous ;  but  he  often  behaves  quite 
as  well  as  the  Pale-face. 

Twice  each  day  we  met  a  coach  going  east.  For  a  moment  the 
panting  horses  would  stop  and  the  two  great  clouds  of  dust  blend 
into  one : 

1  What  news  from  the  States?' 

'  Give  us  some  San  Francisco  papers.* 

1  Did  you  have  any  trouble  with  the  Indians  ?' 

'All  set ;  go  on  driver.' 

The  whips  crack,  and  the  two  cars  of  the  desert  go  rolling 
forward.  Now  it  is  only  the  rattle  of  the  coach,  but  ere  long  it 
will  be  the  screech  of  the  locomotive.  Here  on  the  astonished 
plains,  New  York  and  California,  London  and  China,  will  meet  to 
exchange  greetings  and  newspapers,  while  their  respective  trains 
are  stopping  for  breakfast. 

Along  plains,  over  hills,  and  down  steep  winding  canyons  our 
horses  leaped  at  their  utmost- speed.  One  route  of  eight  miles  we 
traveled  in  thirty  minutes !  I  wonder  if  that  was  ever  beaten  in 
the  palmiest  days  of  the  stage-coach.  We  spent  only  seventy -two 
hours  upon  the  five  hundred  and  seventy-five  miles  of  desert  road 
between  Salt  Lake,  and  Virginia  Nevada. 

The  managers  of  the  line  manifest  great  pride  in  their  enter 
prise,  often  running  it  at  a  heavy  loss  for  months  when  passenger 
travel  is  cut  off.  A  single  stockholder  has  paid  assessments  to  the 
amount  of  twenty-four  thousand  dollars,  to  meet  his  portion  of 
the  deficiency  for  one  year.  The  time  will  doubtless  come  when 
twenty  daily  stages  will  run  to  fill  up  the  unfinished  gap  in  the 
Pacific  railroad. 

The  expenses  of  the  mail  company  have  been  enormous.  In 
1864,  they  paid  twenty-five  cents  per  pound  for  all  grain  used 
between  Salt  Lake  and  Austin.  Each  horse  consumes  daily  from 


368 


IRRIGATING  THE  SANDY  DESERTS. 


[1865. 


ten  to  fifteen  pounds  of  oats  or  barley.  But  the  next  year  they 
stopped  purchasing  grain  of  the  Mormons  and  opened  a  farm  upon 
the  desert.  They  sowed  oats  and  barley  upon  the  freshly -turned 


EGAN   CANYON   AND   FIRST   QUARTZ   MILL. 

sod  of  eight  hundred  and  forty  acres.  The  entire  tract  yielded 
thirty  bushels  to  the  acre,  and  one-fourth  of  it  fifty  bushels  to  the 
acre,  saving  the  company  more  than  fifty  thousand  dollars. 

Upon  all  our  sand  wastes,  as  upon  those  of  Arabia,  the  introduc 
tion  of  water  makes  the  soil  productive.  Thus  far,  irrigation  is 
only  from  streams,  except  in  portions  of  California  where  water  is 
drawn  from  wells  by  windmills ;  but  in  time,  simple  and  cheap 
machinery  for  irrigation  from  wells  will  doubtless  be  introduced. 
Then  the  great  American  Desert  will  become  a  thing  of  the  past ; 
and  the  thousands  upon  thousands  of  miles  of  sage-brush  and 
grease-wood,  dwarf-cedar  anci  cactus,  sand  and  alkali,  from  British 
Columbia  to  northern  Mexico  and  from  western  Kansas  to  the 
Sierra  Nevadas,  will  yield  barley  oats  and  fruit  as  profusely  as  the 
Mississippi  valley  produces  corn  and  hay. 


1865.]    HARDSHIPS    AND    PERILS    OF    EXPLORERS.         369 

Two  hundred  and  fifty  miles  west  of  Salt  Lake  we  encountered 
the  first  quartz  mining  of  Nevada,  at  Egan  Canyon,  a  picturesque 
valley.  Only  one  mill  was  running.  It  had  but  five  stamps  and 
was  so  imperfect  as  to  extract  little  more  than  fifty  per  cent,  of 
the  silver.  But  it  paid  for  itself  in  the  first  ninety  days,  and  then 
returned  large  dividends  to  the  working  owners. 

Several  new  mills  have  since  been  erected,  and  the  region  prom 
ises  very  richly.  Ore  is  reported  as  averaging  one  hundred  and 
six  dollars  to  the  ton.  "Wood  costs  about  three  dollars  per  cord. 
Grass  and  water  are  abundant,  and  the  contiguity  to  Utah 
renders  food  cheap.  Few  silver  mining  regions  possess  so  many 
advantages. 

Beaching  Austin  our  vehicle  whirled  around  the  last  street-cor 
ner,  ran  for  several  yards  poised  upon  two  wheels,  while  the  others 
were  more  than  a  foot  from  the  ground,  but  righted  again;  and 
with  this  neat  finishing  stroke  ended  our  ride  of  four  hundred 
miles,  accomplished  in  fifty-one  hours. 

Austin  is  the  metropolis  of  the  Reese-river  district  and  the 
most  important  mining  region  of  Nevada,  except  Virginia  City. 
It  is  built  upon  innumerable  slender,  parallel  veins  of  ore,  thread 
ing  a  belt  of  country  one  mile  wide  and  five  in  length.  This  was 
the  young  portion  of  Nevada.  Virginia  City,  boasted  a  hoary 
antiquity  of  five  years.  But  only  two  years  and  a  half  had 
passed  since  the  first  pick  was  struck,  the  first  vein  opened,  and 
the  first  cabin  erected  in  Austin. 

The  first  discovery  of  silver  here  was  made  by  Talcott,  a  pony- 
express  rider,  in  July,  1862.  The  usual  excitement  and  rush  of 
immigrants  followed.  A  wandering  farmer,  establishing  a  ranch 
in  one  of  the  little  valleys,  struck  a  fragment  of  ore  while  digging 
a  post-hole.  It  proved  to  belong  to  a  rich  vein,  and  he  sold  his 
claim  for  seven  thousand  dollars.  The  pioneers  often  manifest 
great  enterprise,  in  meeting  severe  hardships  and  peril  from  snow 
and  Indians.  In  February  1864,  an  exploring  party,  under  Colo- 
nel  D.  C.  Buell,  penetrated  several  hundred  miles  southward,  and 
traveled  five  and-a-half  days  upon  the  desert  without  finding  water. 
At  last,  barely  able  to  stand,  they  reached  a  thick,  stagnant  pool 
whose  putrid  water  was  like  nectar  to  their  parched  throats,  and 
saved  them  from  a  horrible  death. 


370  FEATURES    OF    AUSTIN    NEVADA.  [1865. 

Austin  contains  about  four  thousand  people.  Like  most  mining 
towns  it  straggles  for  three  miles  down  a  deep,  crooked  canyon. 
Ashen,  treeless  hills,  rising  for  several  hundred  feet  on  each  side 
of  the  principal  thoroughfare,  are  excavated  like  a  mammoth  prairie- 
dog  town.  Hundreds  of  shafts  and  ditches,  surrounded  by 
piles  of  reddish  earth,  show  the  industry  of  prospectors  in  pur 
suit  of  ore.  Compared  with  these,  the  fortifications  of  McClellan  on 
the  Yirginia  peninsula,  and  the  fifty  miles  of  breastworks  which 
commemorate  Halleck's  stupendous  failure  before  Corinth,  dwarf 
to  mole-hills. 

There  is  truth  in  the  proverb  that  it  requires  a  gold  mine  to 
work  a  silver  mine,  and  often  to  find  one.  Austin  is  a  city  '  lying 
around  loose.'  Along  the  narrow  valley,  huge  quartz  mills  thun 
der  incessantly ;  and  far  up  the  brown  hill -sides,  little  dwellings 
of  stone,  brick  wood  and  adobe  are  curiously  niched  and  scat 
tered. 

The  town  is  six  thousand  feet  above  the  sea,  and  the  air  so  light 
that  the  least  physical  labor  causes  great  shortness  of  breath. 
Persons  wearing  artificial  teeth  find  it  difficult  to  keep  them  in  the 
mouth,  so  slight  is  the  atmospheric  pressure.  Here  we  first  en 
countered  several  features  of  the  Pacific  coast : 

I.  No  hotels,  in  the  American  sense  ;   only  lodging  houses  with 
restaurants  quite  distant  and  often  in  another  part  of  the  city. 

II.  A  specie  currency.     All  transactions  were  based  on  gold 
and  silver,    though    some   'greenbacks'   were   in  circulation   at 
seventy-five  cents  on  the  dollar.     Since  that  time  a  national  bank 
has  gone  into  operation,  and  the  currency  is  now  paper. 

III.  Gambling.    By  day,  Austin  was  quiet — more  than  half  the 
inhabitants  working  under  ground  ;  but  at  night  it  flashed  up  into 
life  and  its  brilliantly  lighted  saloons  with  open  fronts,  were  filled 
with  motley  crowds,  absorbed  in  monte  and  other  forms  of  play, 
inseparable  from  young  mining  regions.     At  several  monte  tables 
women  conducted   the  game,  shuffling  the  cards    and   handling 
great  piles  of  silver  coin  with  the  serenity  of  professional   gam 
blers  ;  while  men  of  all  classes  fought  the  tiger  with  all  the  ardor 
excited  by  that  infatuating  pursuit. 

IV.  Celestials.      Chinamen   from   San  Francisco,   had  already 
penetrated  to  this  remote  region,  and  over  the  doors  of  many  of  the 


1865.]  FIRST    VIEW    OF    SIERRA    NEVADAS.  371 

little  shanties  were  signs  bearing  the  announcement  so  comforting 
to  the  bachelor  heart,  that  Chin-Kong  or  Sam-Sing  did  washing 
and  ironing  at  the  lowest  rates,  with  no  extra  charge  for  sewing 
on  buttons ! 

Y.  Universal  hostility  toward  Austrian  and  French  interfer 
ence  in  Mexico.  Everywhere  on  our  west  coast,  a  war  for  driving 
Maximilian  out  of  Mexico  would  have  been  intensely  popular. 
To  call  this  border  the  *  Pacific '  coast  was  a  glaring  misnomer.  It 
was  really  the  Belligerent  coast. 

All  machinery  and  supplies  came  from  California,  hauled 
by  mules  three  hundred  miles  through  the  Sierras  and  over  the 
desert  at  from  ten  to  twelve  cents  per  pound.  Lumber  cost  from 
one  to  two  hundred  dollars  per  thousand ;  wood  sixteen  dollars 
per  cord.  Laboring  men  received  from  four  to  five  dollars  per  day  ; 
mechanics  from  eight  to  ten.  The  region  was  turning  out  two 
hundred  thousand  dollars  of  silver  per  month.  Hundreds  of 
thousands  of  dollars  had  been  squandered  by  eastern  companies 
in  purchasing  worthless  mines  and  erecting  mills  upon  them. 

The  Austin  silver  veins  are  very  narrow,  containing  ores  rich 
but  intractable  and  difficult  to  reduce.  Quartz  mills,  containing  in 
the  aggregate  more  than  a  hundred  stamps,  are  now  in  opera 
tion. 

Continuing  westward  from  Austin  we  obtained  our  first  view 
of  the  grand  Sierras.  Sierra,  (a  saw)  is  the  universal  Spanish 
term  for  mountains,  from  their  notched,  saw-like  summits.  We 
have  discarded  the  grand  early  name  Sierra  Madre,  (mother  moun 
tains,)  for  the -more  pretentious  and  less  descriptive  appellation  of 
Kocky  Mountains.  The  Castilian  pioneers  also  named  this  tall 
narrow  ridge  a  hundred  miles  from  the  Pacific,  Sierra  Nevada 
(mountains  white  with  snow)  from  the  deep  drifts  that  bury  them 
almost  half  the  year.  They  grew  more  and  more  grandly  distinct 
before  us  until  we  reached  Virginia  City  the  metropolis  of  Nevada. 
With  its  adjuncts,  Gold  Hill  and  Silver  City,  this  wonderful  young 
town  contains  fifteen  thousand  inhabitants.  A  mining  settlement 
is  usually  along  the  trough  of  some  tortuous  ravine  ;  but  Virginia 
perches  like  a  child's  city  half-way  up  the  side  of  a  mountain. 
Most  new  cities  consist  of  frame  sheds ;  but  Virginia  is  chiefly 
composed  of  substantial  brick  blocks. 


872 


A    CITY    SET    UPON    A    HILL. 


[1865. 


The  region  is  bare 
and  forbidding,  treeless 
and  verdureless,  but  of 
ten  breezy  as  if  the  old 
fable  were  actualized 
and  all  the  winds  of 
heaven  let  loose  togeth 
er.  Hats  bound  and 
roll  through  the  streets, 
while  the  crazy  antics 
of  crinoline  reveal  that 
we  are  fearfully  and 
wonderfully  made. 

Here  has  sprung  up 
like  Jonah's  gourd  a  city 
upon  a  hill,  which  can 
not  be  hid;  a  city  of 
costly  churches,  tasteful 
school-houses,  and  im 
posing  hotels ;  many 
telegraph  wires,  many 
daily  coaches,  two  thea 
ters,  three  daily  newspa 
pers — one  nearly  as  large 
as  the  eight-page  jour 
nals  of  New  York! 

Like  other  young 
mining  communities 
some  of  its  elements  are 
fast  and  loud  ;  but  like 
every  new  State  it  has 
also  much  culture,  re 
finement  and  social 
worth.  The  stupid  are 
not  the  pioneers  of  em 
pire.  The  ignorant  and 
dullard  are  not  the  men 
who  bear  commerce  and 


1865.]  EXCITEMENTS    IN    MINING    STOCKS.  373 

civilization  across  the  arid  desert  and  over  the  frowning  moun> 
tains.  Virginia  is  more  than  six  thousand  feet  above  the  sea. 
Beside  the  town  rises  Mount  Davidson  to  the  hight  of  fifteen 
hundred  feet.  One  fancies  the  Genius  of  Solitude  standing  for 
ages  on  that  lonely  peak,  recording  upon  its  stony  tablets  un 
told  centuries  of  silence  and  desolation.  How  suddenly  he  was 
frightened  away  by  the  clang  of  labor,  the  hum  of  trade, 
and  the  sound  of  the  church-going  bell!  But  five  years  past, 
a  desert — to-day,  a  metropolis  !  The  fables  •  of  old  Komance 
grow  tame  before  these  grand  enchantments  born  in  the  nation's 
restless  brain  and  wrought  by  its  tireless  arm. 

In  the  heart  of  the  city  and  its  Gold  Hill  extension,  scores 
of  huge  quartz  mills  pound  unceasingly,  and  their  smoke  darkens 
the  heavens.  One  of  these — the  Gould  and  Curry  — cost  upward 
of  six  hundred  thousand  dollars,  and  contains  eighty  stamps, 
reducing  one  hundred  tons  of  ore  daily.  It  is  the  largest  and 
finest  quartz  mill  in  the  world,  finished  throughout  with  the  nicety 
and  exactness  of  a  music-box. 

The  streets  are  thronged ;  there  is  a  perpetual  whirl  of  business, 
and  the  theaters  are  open  every  night,  including  Sundays.  During 
some  excitements,  mining  stocks  have  commanded  incredible  prices. 
A  foot  in  one  company  has  sold  for  eighteen  thousand  dollars ;  but 
it  now  rates  at  less  than  one-tenth  of  that  sum.  Six  inches  in 
another  company  netted  its  owner  two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars 
per  month.  A  speculator,  at  one  time,  received  twenty-five 
thousand  dollars  a  month  from  his  mining  stocks,  but  had  the 
judgment  to  sell  before  the  collapse ;  for  the  fluctuations  of  silver 
have  been  precisely  like  those  of  petroleum. 

Here  is  the  original  Washoe.  In  San  Francisco  it  is  still  known 
by  that  name,  and  not  as  Nevada.  It  received  the  appellation 
from  the  Washoe  Indians.  I  do  not  know  where  they  gained  it ; 
certainly  not  from  any  Mahomedan  reverence  for  washing.  If 
cleanliness  be  next  to  godliness,  they  are  the  least  divine  of  human 
creatures.  A  few  of  these  '  oldest  inhabitants '  still  remain,  gazing 
in  stolid  wonder  upon  the  strange  civilization  which  has  pushed 
them  from  their  stools. 

This  region  was  unvisited  save  by  small  parties  of  emigrants, 
pony-express  riders,  drivers,  stock-tenders  and  the  few  passengers 


374:  RICHEST    SILVER    MINE    EVER    FOUND.         [1865. 

by  overland  mail,  until  toward  the  close  of  1859.  Then  Comstock 
and  Penrod,  two  prospectors  in  pursuit  of  gold,  discovered  a  vein 
of  dark  ore,  and  were  puzzled  to  decide  upon  its  character.  Speci 
mens  sent  to  San  Francisco  for  assay,  turned  out  to  be  very  rich 
silver-bearing  quartz.  X  great  rush  for  the  new  region  immedi 
ately  began,  and  the  Comstock  Lode  proved  the  richest  vein  of 
silver  ever  found.  It  is  a  mile  and  a  half  in  length,  from  eighty 
to  two  hundred  feet  in  width,  and  is  already  opened  downward  for 
nearly  seven  hundred  feet,  without  giving  out.  'Once  a  silver 
mine,  always  a  silver  mine,'  is  the  favorite  theory.  It  is  claimed 
that  they  are  never  exhausted.  Some  Peruvian  lodes  are  already 
worked  to  the  depth  of  seventeen  hundred  feet. 

The  Comstock  has  yielded  wonderfully.  From  twelve  hundred 
feet  in  length,  the  Gould  and  Curry  company  have  taken  twelve 
millions  of  dollars;  and  four  millions  were  extracted  from  one 
*  pocket.'  The  mine  originally  cost  the  company  three  thousand 
dollars. 

Upon  this  Comstock  Lode  began  the  silver-mining  of  the  United 
States — an  industry  yet  in  its  infancy,  but  destined  to  prove  one 
of  the  most  important  interests  of  the  nation.  It  is  the  sole, 
pursuit  of  Nevada,  which  has  sprung  up  on  the  desert  and  was 
admitted  to  the  Union  in  1863.  During  1865,  the  Wells-Fargo 
express  carried  from  Nevada  to  San  Francisco  fifteen  million 
dollars  in  bullion,  the  year's  product  of  this  youngest  State,  born 
at  the  outset  of  a  great  civil  war. 

This  silver  ore  is  very  easily  reduced.  That  of  Austin,  Egan 
Canyon  and  some  districts  of  Idaho  must  be  roasted  in  addition. 
In  Utah  and  Arizona  many  of  the  silver  ores  require  smelting. 
The  Austin  veins  are  only  from  six  to  twenty  inches  wide.  There 
•  one  stamp  will  reduce  but  half  a  ton  a  day ;  crushing  costs  eighty 
dollars  per  ton,  and  ore  must  yield  one  hundred  dollars  per  ton  to 
pay  for  working.  Here  is  only  the  one  great  Comstock  Lode, 
sometimes  eighty  feet  in  breadth  ;  one  stamp  will  crush  daily  a 
ton  and  a  quarter,  and  ores  which  yield  twenty-five  dollars  are 
profitable.  In  California,  where  fuel,  labor  and  water  are  cheap, 
ores  which  contain  six  dollars  to  the  ton  pay  for  working,  and 
nine-dollar  ores  are  very  lucrative.  Hasten  the  Pacific  railroad! 

Mines  are  bought  and  sold  by  the  foot.     A  thin  slice  of  beet 


1865.] 


CURIOUS    INVENTIONS    OF    MINERS. 


375 


inserted  in.  an  apple  will  represent  a  silver  vein,  and  the  apple 
inclosing  it  the  wall-rock.  A  '  foot '  is  twelve  inches  in  length  on 
the  vein,  including  its  entire  width,  whether  six  inches  or  sixty 
feet,  and  its  whole  depth  down  toward  the  earth's  center.  How  deep 
silver  veins  extend  is  only  conjectured.  In  Mexico  and  South 
America  some  have  been  worked  for  three  hundred  years.  Of  the 
hundreds  opened  in  Nevada  but  few  have  yet  proved  remunera 
tive.  Many  companies  after  immense  expenditure  reap  only  as 
sessments,  which  in  this  region  are  termed  '  Irish  dividends.' 

There  are  many  ingenious  inventions.  The  ore  comes  from  the 
mines  in  fragments  as  large  as  a  man's  head.  They  were  formerly 
broken  by  hand  with  sledge-hammers  into  pieces  small  enough  to 
go  under  the  stamps.  Now  a  machine  with  a  '  hopper '  like  a 
grist-mill  seizes  them  and 
chews  them  with  its  iron 
teeth  to  the  proper  fine 
ness,  like  bits  of  cheese. 
At  the  Savage  we  saw  a 
new  '  safety  cage  '  for  low 
ering  miners  and  visitors 
do,wn  the  shaft.  A  roof 
of  boiler-iron  protects  the 
head  against  missiles 
falling  from  above.  In 
our  presence  the  superin 
tendent  loaded  one  of  these 
cages  with  a  ton  of  ore, 
and  then,  two  hundred 
feet  above  the  bottom  of 

the  mine  and  about  as  far  below  the  surface,  cut  the  rope.  The 
heavy  car  fell  two  or  three  feet,  and  then  suddenly  stopped.  Two 
strong  arms  of  steel  darting  out  horizontally  struck  into  the  wall 
on  either  side,  and  held  the  burden  firmly  over  the  dark  abyss ! 
It  was  precisely  like  a  falling  man  throwing  out  his  hands  to  grasp 
the  nearest  object — a  marvelous  counterfeit  of  human  instinct 

The  subterranean  tunnels  and  chambers  are  planked  and  tim 
bered  to  prevent  them  from  falling  in.  Some  of  the  timbers, 
crushed  and  half  broken  by  the  weight  of  rock,  suggest  unpleas- 


THE   CUUSHED   TIMBERS. 


376  FOUR    HUNDRED    FEET    UNDER    GROUND.      [1865. 

ant  possibilities  as  one  creeps  under  them.  We  saw  a  new  ma 
chine  mortise  and  frame  both  ends  of  a  pine  joist  seven  feet  long 
by  fourteen  inches  square,  in  two  minutes  and  forty-five  seconds. 
The  proprietors  of  the  Savage  assured  us  that  it  was  saving  them 
eighty  dollars  per  day.  These  are  all  the  productions  of  practical 
working  miners.  Theorists  and  savans  are  held  in  amusing  con 
tempt.  The  workmen  declare  that  they  find  the  richest  ore  where 
the  geologists  pronounced  the  existence  of  silver  utterly  impossible, 
and  vice  versa. 

The  city  stands  directly  over  the  Comstock  Lode,  which  is 
honeycombed  with  hundreds  of  subterranean  tunnels  and  cham 
bers,  from  twenty  to  six  hundred  feet  below  the  surface. 

Standing  upon  a  little  platform  and  holding  by  an  iron  bar 
overhead,  down,  down  a  dark,  narrow  perpendicular  shaft  we 
shot  breathless  through  the  dense  darkness.  In  a  moment 
the  rush  of  air  ceased,  and  four  hundred  feet  under  ground  we 
stepped  into  a  chamber  of  the  Gould  and  Curry.  Already  thirty- 
five  chambers,  seven  feet  in  hight,  have  been  opened  and  tim 
bered  one  above  another;  and  the  'drifts'  and  tunnels  seem  end 
less.  There  is  doubtless  more  lumber  in  the  Gould  and  Curry 
mine  than  in  the  whole  city  of  Virginia  above  ground. 

Sometimes  the  ore  ceases,  the  wall  rocks  unite  and  the  vein 
seems'to  give  out.  Then,  hundreds  of  feet  below,  a  long  tunnel  is 
run  in  from  the  hill-side,  and  in  each  case  after  months  of  labor 
and  enormous  expenditure,  the  ore  has  'been  struck  again  at  a 
lower  level. 

We  walked  for  hours  through  long  hollow  passages  where  the 
blows  of  the  pick  rang  and  echoed,  while  flaring  candles  threw 
their  lurid  light  over  perspiring  miners  and  carmen.  Our  stair 
way  labors  ended  in  climbing  a  perpendicular  ladder  one  hundred 
and  twenty  feet  high.  Some  one  kindly  suggested  that  on  account 
of  weakness  I  should  lead  the  party.  A  few  rounds  up,  my  can 
dle  went  out ;  and  toward  the  top  a  sensation  of  faintness  came 
over  me  in  the  thin,  close  air.  Glancing  instinctively  at  the  suc 
cession  of  tapers  twinkling  in  the  dark  chasm  beneath,  I  shuddered 
to  think  what  a  clean  sweep  of  every  man  from  the  ladder  my  fall 
would  produce!  But  we  all  mastered  the  ascent,  mounted  the  cage 
again,  and  it  bounded  up  into  daylight  like  a  schoolboy's  ball. 


1865.] 


OEES  SENT  ABROAD  FOR  REDUCTION. 


377 


The  Gould  and 
Curry  mill  is  kept 
running  day  and 
night  by  two  sets  of 
workmen.  It  crush 
es  only  the  lower 
grades  of  ore.  All 
yielding  more  than 
one  thousand  dollars 
per  ton  is  sent  in 
wagons  over  the  Si 
erras  to  the  railroad 
and  thence  shipped, 
via  San  Francisco, 
to  Swansea  in 
Wales.  Even  from 
Austin,  rich  ore  is 
hauled  four  hun 
dred  miles  and  sent 
abroad  for  crushing. 

Swansea  mills 
guarantee  that  they 
will  extract  all  the 
silver  to  the  full 
amount  of  the  as 
say;  Virginia  mills 
agree  to  take  out 
only  eighty  per 
cent.  On  the  com 
pletion  of  the  Pacific 
railway,  this  branch 
of  carrying-trade 
alone  will  become 
immense,  unless  we 
acquire  the  same 
subtlety  to  extract 
all  the  metal  which 
Welsh  and  German 


ON   THE   LADDER. 


mills  have  attained. 
The  average  Nevada 
ore  yields  two  dol 
lars  of  silver  to  one 
of  gold.  The  Gould 
and  Curry  company 
have  paid  nearly  a 
million  of  dollars  in 
a  single  year  for 
transportation  be 
tween  Virginia  and 
San  Francisco. 

The  profits  of 
many  of  the  richest 
mines  have  been 
consumed  in  litiga 
tion  about  titles. 
One  company  paid 
its  attorneys  forty 
thousand  dollars  a 
year  for  legal  ser 
vices.  Another  paid 
the  same  firm  a  sin 
gle  fee  of  a  hundred 
thousand  dollars. 

I     have     spoken 
only  of  those  regions 
in  which  mining  is 
carried    on     exten 
sively.      Other  sec 
tions    where     de 
velopment  is  just 
beginning         are 
equally     rich     in 
valuable         ores. 
The  Humboldt  re 
gion  north  of  Vir 
ginia,  a  large  tract 


378  FIVE    HUNDRED    MILLIONS    PER    ANNUM        [1865. 

south  of  Austin,  and  the  Pah-Ranagat  district  near  the  Colorado 
river,  are  said  to  contain  larger  and  more  remunerative  mines  than 
have  yet  been  opened  ;  but  no  single  vein  has  been  found  equal 
ing  the  Comstock  Lode,  which  has  already  yielded  more  than  sixty 
millions  of  dollars. 

Senator  Nye  believes  that  Nevada  contains  more  silver  ore 
than  all  the  rest  of  the  world.  Bishop  Simpson  insists  that  our 
silver  resources  are  sufficient  to  pay  off  a  national  debt  of  twenty 
billions,  present  each  returned  soldier  of  the  Union  with  a  silver 
musket,  and  then  plate  all  our  war  vessels  with  silver  thicker  than 
they  are  now  sheathed  with  iron.  Doubtless  both  gentlemen  are 
over-sanguine ;  but  the  ores  of  Nevada  seem  practically  inexhaust 
ible  ;  and  our  silver  mining  is  yet  in  its  infancy.  Every  dollar 
spent  in  developing  our  quartz  lodes  enhances  the  value  of  every 
foot  of  real  estate  in  the  Atlantic  cities,  and  every  acre  of  farming 
land  in  the  Union ;  and  enriches  every  mercantile,  manufacturing 
and  railroad  interest.  Within  fifteen  years  after  the  Pacific  railroad 
is  completed  the  silver  and  gold  mines  of  the  United  States  will  be 
yielding  five  hundred  millions  of  dollars  per  annum. 


1865.]         CARSON    CITY    AND    CAESON    VALLEY.  379 


CHAPTER    XXXII. 

NEVADA  abounds  in  hot  springs.  A  few  miles  from  Virginia, 
over  a  tract  a  mile  long  following  the  course  of  a  little  brook, 
sulphur- water  boils  and  throbs  under  ground,  here  and  there 
breaking  through  in  jets  of  hot  water  and  steam.  At  one  point 
rises  from  the  ground  a  fountain  six  or  eight  feet  nigh,  puffing  like 
a  high-pressure  steamer ;  wherefore  all  the  waters  are  known  as  the 
1  Steamboat  Springs.'  Like  the  great  sulphur  springs  at  Salt  Lake 
they  possess  much  curative  virtue,  and  are  especially  useful  in 
rheumatism. 

Hot  springs,  deserts,  alkaline  waters,  precious  metals  and 
precious  stones,  seem  everywhere  to  have,  natural  affinity  for  each 
other.  Marco  Polo's  ancient  accounts  of  wells  of  petroleum 
which  had  caught  fire  and  which  the  Persians  worshipped;  of  hot 
springs  with  swimming  baths  'very  salutary  in  cutaneous  and 
other  diseases ;'  of  salt  and  bitter  desert  waters  which  *  produce 
violent  purging  if  a  man  tastes  even  a  drop  ;'  *  mountains  formed 
entirely  of  salt;'  deep  caverns  'cut  by  those  who  worked  silver 
mines ;'  deposits  of  lapis  lazuli,  rubies,  jasper,  chalcedony  and  as 
bestos,  in  Tartary,  read  like  descriptions  of  our  own  mining  States. 

Sixteen  miles  west  of  Virginia,  Carson  City,  the  pleasant 
capital  of  the  State,  nestles  in  a  green  valley  at  the  foot  of  the 
Sierras.  The  city  and  the  neighboring  river  perpetuate  the  name 
of  Kit  Carson,  the  trapper  and  scout. 

Carson  valley  is  the  largest  and  richest  farming  region  of 
Nevada.  The  State  looks  so  utterly  barren  and  desolate  that  early 
settlers  believed  all  its  supplies  must  be  drawn  from  Utah  and 
California.  Nothing  is  raised  without  irrigation;  but  experi 
ence  proves  that  many  of  its  little  valleys  have  great  agricultural 


380  EARLIEST    OFFICERS    OF    NEVADA.  [1865. 

capacity,  and  indicates  that  the  State  will  one  day  become  self- 
sustaining.     Still  its  chief  interest  will  be  silver  mining. 

There  is  some  foundation  for  the  satire  of  a  tourist,  who  insists 
that  the  Eocky  Mountains,  the  desert,  and  the  Sierras,  must  be 
infinitely  rich  in  minerals  because  they  are  worthless  for  any  thing 
else !  Indeed,  there  seems  to  be  a  universal  truth  in  quaint  old 
Wither's  observations  upon  gold : 

^  '  I've  heard  those  say  who  travel  to  the  West, 

Whence  this  beloved  metal  is  encreast, 
That  in  the  places  where  such  minerals  be 
Is  neither  grass,  nor  herb,  nor  plant,  nor  tree.' 

In  most  new  mining  States  rhetorical  acrobats,  donning  blue 
shirts  and  buckskin  pantaloons,  drink  bad  whisky  with  the  miners 
and  harangue  tnemselves  into  Congress.  These  political  Micaw- 
bers  never  will  desert  the  honest  miners,  nor  stop  abusing  the 
Government  for  disregarding  western  interests. 

Nevada  was  wiser  in  the  bestowal  of  her  public  trusts.  Governor 
H.  G.  Blaisdel  her  first  executive,  was  a  San  Francisco  merchant. 
Through  a  sudden  decline  in  corn,  he  failed  for  seventy -five 
thousand  dollars.  Coming  to  Nevada  and  beginning  life  anew,  he 
went  into  quartz  mining;  and  in  ten  years  returned  to  San  Fran 
cisco  and  paid  to  his  creditors  every  dollar  of  the  old  indebtedness. 
A  practical  miner,  minutely  familiar  with  the  interest  of  the  young 
State,  he  filled  her  highest  office  with  ability  and  fitness. 

William  M.  Stewart,  one  of  her  first  United  States  senators,  was 
also  a  working  miner,  and  able,  in  the  national  councils,  to  give 
comprehensive  and  minute  information  touching  the  resources, 
developments  and  needs  of  our  mineral  States. 

At  Carson,  as  usual,  Mr.  Colfax  was  welcomed  by  officials  and 
citizens,  with  processions,  banners  and  artillery  salute.  Here  as  in 
Virginia,  we  encountered  the  messengers  and  officers  of  the  great 
Wells-Fargo  express  company,  which  transports  nearly  all  the 
freight  and  treasure  and  much  of  the  mail  matter  of  the  Pacific 
coast.  Despite  the  difficulties  of  building  up  such  an  enterprise 
in  a  new,  sparsely-settled  country,  it  appeared  better  managed 
and  more  popular  among  all  classes  than  any  similar  organization 
in  the  United  States.  It  was  then  confined  to  our  west  coast,  but 


1865.]          LAKE    TAHOE,    ON    SIERRA    NEVADAS. 


881 


LOUIS  MC'LANE, 
PRESIDENT  -\VELLS-FARGO  EXPRESS. 


now  it   covers   the   vast  region    between  the  Missouri  and  the 
Pacific;  and  with  special  fitness,  Louis  McLane  who  organized 
and  managed  it  for  fifteen  years  in 
California,  is  the  president  of  the 
enlarged   company,   whose  head 
quarters  have  been  transferred  to 
New  York. 

After  some  pleasant  hours  in 
Carson,  we  continued  westward 
in  charge  of  Colonel  F.  A.  Bee, 
of  Placerville  California,  builder 
of  the  first  trans-continental  tele 
graph. 

A  delightful  evening  drive  of 
thirteen  miles,  up  the  Sierras, 
brought  us  to  Tahoe,  by 

far  the  most  beautiful  lake  in  the  United  States.  The  air  was 
sweet  with  the  breath  of  the  pines ;  the  eye  feasted  on  deep  green 
valleys,  great  mountains  of  rock,  and  hills  studded  with  ever 
greens.  The  peerless  little  lake  lies  among  the  clouds,  more  than 
a  mile  above  sea  level.  It  stretches  for  twenty  miles,  a  shining 
mirror  set  round  with  somber  firs  and  bounded  by  hazy  moun 
tains.  In  the  quiet  night  we  strolled  down  to  the  shore  and 
lounged  on  a  pile  of  lumber,  listening  to  the  wind's  low  moan 
through  the  pines,  and  the  wave's  soft  ripple  against  the  sand. 
The  crescent  moon  made  in  the  burnished  lake  a  great  field  of 
light,  narrowing  toward  us  until,  in  the  low  swell,  it  broke  into  a 
mass  of  sparkling  silver  chains. 

The  next  morning  the  melody  of  singing  birds  awoke  me, 
pouring  in  through  my  open  window  at  the  Glenbrook  House. 
We  breakfasted  upon  the  lake  trout,  which  weigh  from  one  to 
twenty-five  pounds.  Then  we  enjoyed  a  ride  of  two  hours  upon 
the  little  steamer  '  Governor  Blaisdel,'  which  left  the  water  in  our 
wake  a  streak  of  indigo  blue.  The  craft  looks  but  little  longer  than 
his  excellency,  who  stands  nearly  six  feet  six ! 

Tahoe  is  probably  the  highest  lake  on  the  globe,  navigated  by 
a  steamboat.  It  seems  as  perfectly  transparent  as  if  the  watet 
were  air.  The  bottom  is  seen  with  distinctness  at  the  depth  of 

25 


382     SEVEN  THOUSAND   FEET  ABOVE   SEA-LEVEL.    [1865, 

nearly  a  hundred  feet.  In  some  portions  it  has  been  found  more 
than  fifteen  hundred  feet  deep.  All  around,  the  irregular  trace 
dividing  the  sea-green  of  the  shallow  waters  from  the  sky-blue  of 
the  depths,  is  as  well  defined  as  a  chalk-line  on  a  blackboard. 
The  shores  abound  in  shining  black  sand.  A  movement,  em 
inently  characteristic  of  the  large  ideas  of  the  Californians,  is  on 
foot,  to  tunnel  the  Sierras  and  supply  San  Francisco  and  other 
large  towns  with  water  from  Tahoe. 

The  State  line  crosses  the  lake;  and  we  soon  passed  into  Cali 
fornia.  At  the  Lake  House  we  parted  from  the  twenty  Nevada 
friends  who  had  accompanied  us ;  and  exchanged  the  steamer  for 
a  six-horse  stage  coach  of  the  Pioneer  Line.  Whirling  along  up 
the  smooth,  winding,  graded  road,  we  were  among  bare  granitic 
peaks  of  white,  gray  and  brown,  in  air  pungent  with  odors  of 
the  pine  and  the  slender  balsam  fir.  Many  noble  pines,  one  hun 
dred  and  fifty  feet  high  and  straight  as  arrows,  are  covered  on  the 
north  side  with  rich,  yellowish-green  moss.  Rivulets  leap 
hundreds  of  feet  down  the  abrupt  mountain  sides,  and.  flung  off 
by  the  jutting  rocks,  bend  in  arches  of  alabaster  whiteness.  They 
recall  the  fine  conceit  of  the  Spanish  poet  that  a  brook  is  the  laugh 
of  the  mountain ! 

Crossing  the  summit  seven  thousand  feet  above  the  sea,  we 
looked  back  upon  a  grand  panorama.  Far  below  us  glittered 
Tahoe,  brightest  gem  in  the  mountain  coronet  of  those  twin 
queens,  the  Golden  and  the  Silver  State.  We  saw  every  variety 
of  form  and  color,  mountain  and  valley,  the  deepest  green  and  the 
purest  snow.  Then  we  began  to  descend.  Here,  where  the  turn 
pike  in  winter  is  sometimes  obstructed  by  twenty  feet  of  snow, 
pass  three  telegraph  wires  and  eight  daily  coaches. 

The  winding  road  is  graded  like  a  railway — the  finest  of  turn 
pikes  for  the  perfection  of  staging.  In  early  days  the  ride  was 
very  perilous :  along  rocky  sidling  roads,  upon  the  edge  of  dizzy 
precipices,  where  one  looked  down  for  a  thousand  feet  upon  patches 
of  greensward  and  silver  streams. 

When  the  editor  of  the  Tribune  crossed  in  1859,  he  was  driven 
by  Hank  Monk,  a  famous  Jehu  who  like  the  son  of  Nirnshi, 
driveth  furiously.  An  apochryphal  story  of  this  ride  is  current 
all  over  the  great  plains  and  among  the  mountains.  The  editor 


1865.] 


A    LEGEND    OF    STAGE    DRIVING 


383 


had  a  lecture  engagement  in  Placerville,  and  as  the  horses  climbed 
slowly  up  the  eastern  side  he  feared  he  would  be  too  late.  Twice 
he  urged  the  driver  forward,  but  the  reticent  Monk  paid  not  the 
slightest  heed.  Soon,  they  reached  the  summit  and  began  to  de 
scend.  Then  cracked  the  long-idle  whip;  and  the  horses  at  full 
run,  tore  along  beside  precipices  where  a  single  stone  or  mis-step 
might  send  them  rolling  over,  in  which  case  the  passenger  was 
sure  that,  upon  reaching  the  bottom,  coach,  horses  and  men  would 


MONTGOMERY   STREET,    SAN   FRANCISCO,    JULY 


1865. 


the 


not  be  worth  twenty-five  cents  a  bushel !  Tossed  about  in 
bounding  vehicle,  he  assured  the  driver  that  such  haste  was 
unnecessary,  that  half  an  hour  sooner  or  later  would  make  no 
material  difference. 

'  Keep  your  seat,  Mr.  Greeley,'  replied  the  imperturbable  Monk, 
with  a  fresh  crack  of  the  whip — *  keep  your  seat ;  I'll  get  you  to 
Placerville  in  time !' 

Through  that  overruling  Providence  which  cares  for  the  care- 


384  THRILLING    RIDE    DOWN    THE    SIERRAS.        [1865. 

less,  the  journey  was  accomplished  in  safety.  But  the  fanciful 
legend  so  pleased  certain  Californians,  that  they  presented  Monk 
with  a  handsome  gold  watch,  bearing  the  inscription :  *  Keep 
your  seat,  Mr.  Greeley — I'll  get  you  to  Placerville  in  time.' 

One  night  afterward  when  Monk's  coach  was  late — for  these 
stages  run  by  time-table — he  drove  very  hard,  to  the  terror  of  a 
self-important  judicial  personage  who  vainly  expostulated  again 
and  again ;  and  at  last  with  pompous  gravity,  thundered : 

'  I  will  have  you  discharged  before  the  week  is  out.  Do  you 
know  who  I  am  sir?' 

'Oh,  yes!'  replied  Monk,  *  perfectly  well.  But  I  am  going  to 
take  this  coach  into  Carson  City  on  time  if  it  kills  every  one-horse 
judge  in  the  State  of  California!' 

Now,  the  broad,  winding  roads  are  beautifully  smooth,  and  ia 
summer  sprinkled  from  carts  for  sixty  miles  to  keep  down  the 
all-enveloping  dust.  The  carts  are  supplied  from  great  wooden 
water-tanks  two  or  three  miles  apart. 

Down  the  narrow,  winding  shelf-road  our  horses  went  leaping 
at  a  sharp  gallop.  It  is  a  thrilling  ride ;  for,  at  many  points,  a 
divergence  of  six  inches  from  the  track  would  send  the  coach 
rolling  from  five  hundred  to  a  thousand  feet  down  the  mountain, 
into  the  foaming  stream-bed  of  some  yawning  canyon.  Here  is 
the  ideal  of  staging.  For  weeks  afterward,  one's  blood  bounds  at 
the  memory  of  its  whirl  and  rush.  Twenty-four  on  the  coach, 
with  six  horses,  galloping  down  the  Sierra  ISTevadas,  along  a  wind 
ing,  narrow,  dizzy  road,  at  twelve  miles  an  hour !  It  is  swift  as 
Sheridan's  Ride  and  stirring  as  the  Charge  of  the  Six  Hundred. 

The  track  was  half  covered  with  great  California  freight  wag 
ons.  One  carries  from  six  to  ten  tons,  and  is  drawn  by  ten  OP 
twelve  mules,  each  bearing  on  his  saddle  four  tinkling  bells.  Yery 
striking  was  the  skill  and  Coolness  of  our  driver,  as  we  rolled  on 
our  winding  way,  among  these  long  teams  and  ponderous  wagons. 
With  perfect  confidence  and  nicest  calculation,  he  whirled  us 
around  sharp  corners  and  through  gaps  between  the  freighters  and 
the  precipice,  barely  wide  enough  for  our  wheels.  With  him7 
driving  long  ago  ceased  to  be  an  experimental  accomplishment, 
and  became  one  of  the  exact  sciences. 

We  passed  in  sight  of  the  peak  immortalized  by  Fremont's  bum- 


DOWN  THE  SIERRA  NEVADAS,  IN  1865.  Page  384 


1865.]          REACHING    THE    LOCOMOTIVE    AGAIN.  385 

ble-bee;  and  rode  along  the  foot  of  a  granite  wall,  thirteen  hundred 
feet  high,  so  upright  that  from  the  summit  one  might  have  dropped 
an  apple  upon  our  heads.  We  dined  at  Straw-Berry  station, 
which  commemorates,  not  the  fruit  but,  a  pioneer  named  Berry, 
who  used  to  sell  straw  for  hay  to  the  early  Washoe  pilgrims  until 
they  gave  him  the  patronymic  of  '  Old  Straw-Berry.' 

Among  the  beauties  and  wonders  which  feasted  our  eyes,  was 
one  striking  scene.  Fifteen  hundred  feet  below  us  glittered  a  sil 
ver-bright  section  of  the  American  river.  Hills  clothed  with  pines 
and  firs,  and  green  with  delicious  grass,  sloped  down  to  it  on  all 
sides  with  perfect  symmetry.  It  was  the  rarest  little  picture  in 
a  frame  of  unrivaled  verdure. 

Early  in  the  evening  we  reached  Placerville,  having  ridden 
seventy- two  miles  in  seven  hours,  including  all  stoppages.  How 
little  we  comprehend  life's  common  beauties  and  blessings !  In 
1864  when  I  escaped  from  Salisbury,  after  twenty  months  spent  in- 
rebel  prisons,  every-day  comforts,  pure  water,  untainted  air,  clean 
clothing  and  wholesome  food  seemed  the  most  extravagant  of  lux 
uries.  So,  after  our  long  ride  over  mountain  and  desert,  these 
pleasant  valley-homes,  with  trees,  and  flowers  and  festooning  vines 
were  wondrously  beautiful.  The  reception  to  Mr.  Colfax  seemed 
to  come  straight  from  the  heart ;  and  for  my  own  part,,  like  the 
comedian,  never  was  I  treated  so  well — nor  so  often. 

Placerville,  among  the  western  foot-hills  of  the  Sierras,  is  a 
pleasant  town  of  three  or  four  thousand  inhabitants,  which  formerly 
had  an  immense  trade  in  supplying  the  mines. 

The  next  morning,  a  final  ride  of  nine  miles  landed  us  at  Shin- 
kle  Spring  beside  the  enormous  freight-depot  of  the  Sacramento 
Valley  and  Placerville  Kailroad.  After  two  thousand  miles  of 
stage-coaching,  here  was  the  locomotive  again !  From  the  bot 
tom  of  my  heart  I  felt  like  embracing  or,  at  the  very  least,  apos 
trophizing  it. 

In  two  hours  the  iron  horse  took  us  to  Sacramento,  the  capital 
of  the  State.  The  first  gold  discoveries  were  made  near  Placerville ; 
but  almost  simultaneously  gold  was  found  on  the  ranch  of  John 
A.  Sutter,  a  Swiss  gentleman  who  in  1839  had  settled  three  miles 
from  the  present  city  of  Sacramento.  When  Humboldt  visited 
California  in  1803,  he  predicted  that  precious  metals  would  be 


386  SACRAMENTO  —  ARRIVAL  IN  SAN  FRANCISCO.  [1865. 

found  near  the  surface.  But  the  first  discoveries  were  made  upon  Sut 
ler's  claim  in  1848.  The  news  spread  like  wild-fire.  Settlers  poured 
in  and  destroyed  Sutter's  crops,  stole  his  horses  and  killed  his  cattle. 
But  their  recklessness  did  not  prevent  him  from  exercising  great 
kindness  and  humanity  toward  all  the  sick  and  suffering ;  and 
many  a  pioneer  yet  remembers  him  gratefully.  He  still  resides 
upon  his  old  claim — a  large  Mexican  grant  to  which  our  Govern 
ment  has  tardily  confirmed  his  title. 

Sacramento  is  at  the  head  of  tide-water  on  the  Sacramento  river, 
one  hundred  and  twenty  miles  above  the  mouth.  Its  history  is  a 
chapter  of  moving  accidents.  Again  and  again  it  was  destroyed 
by  conflagration  and  submerged  by  freshets ;  and  more  than  once 
schooners  sailed  through  the  principal  streets.  A  friend  assured 
me  that  one  night,  upon  returning  home  in  a  boat,  he  found  a 
cow  in  his  drawing-room,  and  tied  her  to  the  hall  banister,  lest 
the  flood  should  take  her  up  stairs  before  morning.  Levees  now 
guard  the  city  from  overflow,  and  the  grade  is  being  changed  to 
afford  sure  and  permanent  protection.  The  well-shaded  city, 
though  intensely  hot  in  summer,  is  agreeable,  and  contains  much 
wealth  and  culture.  A  cottonwood  which  had  grown  to  a  foot  in 
diameter  in  seven  years  from  the  seed,  was  pointed  out  to  us. 
We  found  one  of  the  proprietors  of  the  leading  daily  journal  an 
old  typo  from  the  Tribune  office. 

The  summit-line  of  the  Sierras  at  the  nearest  point  is  seventy- 
five  miles  east  of  the  town.  But  in  winter  the  snow-capped  moun 
tains  can  be  seen  from  the  capital  stretching  two  hundred  miles 
from  north  to  south. 

After  spending  a  few  agreeable  hours  in  Sacramento,  we  em 
barked  on  the  steamer  Crysopolis,  much  like  the  Long  Island 
Sound  boats,  built  in  California,  elegantly  furnished,  and  two 
hundred  and  fifty  feet  in  length.  Here  we  lost  sight  of  the 
"snowy  mountains,  which  had  not  been  out  of  our  view  for  many 
hours  at  once  since  we  first  saw  them,  fifteen  hundred  miles  back, 
before  reaching  Denver.  At  midnight,  we  were  looking  out  upon 
the  great  Pacific,  listening  to  its  low  voice  of  infinite  lamentation. 

On  the  first  day  of  July  ended  our  journey  across  the  continent. 
We  were  in  San  Francisco  in  season  to  witness  the  celebration  of 
*the  Fourth.'  It  was  very  spontaneous  and  enthusiastic.  All 


1865.]        A    STARTLING    CATALOGUE    OF    EVENTS.  387 

the  thoroughfares  were  gay  with  flags,  and  Montgomery  street, 
the  Broadway  of  the  city,  was  a  deluge  of  tri-colored  waves. 
An  enormous  arch  was  built  across  it,  bearing  the  names  of 
every  State  in  the  Union,  and  portraits  of  Washington  and  Lin 
coln  recognizable  a  quarter  of  a  mile  away.  There  was  a  warm 
controversy  about  permitting  negroes  to  join  in  the  processsion, 
which  at  last  resulted  in  the  conclusion  that  as  two  hundred  thou 
sand  of  them  had  fought,  and  twenty-eight  thousand  died,  in  the 
military  service  of  the  republic,  they  had  some  vested  rights  in  the 
national  holiday.  The  prejudice  against  color,  always  incredibly 
strong  in  all  the  .mining  States  and  Territories,  was  now  per 
ceptibly  ameliorating. 

Soon  after  us  arrived  from  New  York  the  new  steamer  Colo 
rado  of  the  Pacific  Mail  Line,  after  a  voyage  of  ninety  days  around 
the  Horn.  The  steamers  for  the  smooth  Pacific  are  built  so  large 
and  fragile,  as  to  render  even  their  single  voyage  down*  the  Atlantic 
perilous.  In  making  the  trip  they  stop  at  a  few  ports  on  the 
east  coast  of  South  America,  pass  through  the  straits  ot  Magel 
lan  with  their  magnificent  scenery,  and  touch  at  two  or  three 
points  on  the  Pacific  side.  Thirty  excursion  passengers  came  on. 
the*  Colorado.  One,  Fred.  Billings,  a  San  Francisco  pioneer,  soft 
ened  the  asperities  of  the  trip  by  bringing  a  new  milch  cow  foi  the> 
benefit  of  the  morning  coffee.. 

At  Callao  Peru,  the  par-ty  were  hungry  for  home  intelligence. 
They  had  not  heard  a  word  since  leaving  New  York,  when  Grant 
was  still  fighting  it  out  on  that  line.  Mr.  Billings  asked  the  first 
Yankee  he  met  on  the  plank : 

'  What  is  the  news  from  the  United  States  ?' 

Slowly  removing  his  cigar,  the  stranger  replied  with  genuine 
American  nonchalance,  reciting  the  stupendous  events  in  a  tone 
as  monotonous  as  if  reading  a  washing-list: 

1  Richmond  is  taken ;  Lee  has  capitulated ;  Johnston  has  sur 
rendered  ;  President  Lincoln  has  been  assassinated ;  and  Jeff. 
Davis  has-beea  caught  in  his  wife's  petticoats  !' 

The  listener  stood  speechless  at  the  startling  catalogue! 

The  sharp  San  Francisco  winds  from  the  sea  proved  unfavorable 
to  a  lingering  lung-weakness,  which  clung  to  me  in  memory  of 
Castle  Thunder  and  Libby  Prison.  So  I  retreated  to  the  interior, 


388 


DELIGHTFUL    DAYS    IN    PLACERVILLE.         [1865, 


spending  a  few  delightful  days  with  friends  in  Placerville.  Eve 
ning's  quiet  was  broken  only  by  the  drowsy  tinkling  of  cow-bells, 
and  every  morning  the  song  of  the  oriole  poured  in  at  my  open 
window.  The  oleander  bloomed  upon  the  porch,  and  the  garden 
air  was  fragrant  with  rose  and  fuchsia,  honeysuckle  and  heliotrope, 
nasturtium  and  sweet  verbena.  It  was  only  the  first  week  of  July ; 
but  strawberries,  (the  second  crop — the  same  vines  produce  four  or 


A   GROUP   OF    CELESTIALS. 


five  times  a  year,)  raspberries,  blackberries,  cherries,  plums,  apri* 
cots,  figs,  early  peaches,  pears,  apples  and  grapes  were  abundant. 

My  friend's  garden  of  one  acre  produced  two  tons  of  peaches, 
-thirty  barrels  of  apples,  and  grapes  and  berries  whose  name  was 
legion.  One  peach  was  eighteen  inches  in  circumference;  a»d  the 
trees  bear  in  two  years  from  the  seed.  Irrigation — two  square 
inches  of  water  running  constantly — cost  him  thirty  dollars  for  the 
season.  Only  ten  years  before  he  began  to  redeem  his  garden  from 
the  barrenness  of  a  parched  hill-side. 

This  is  the  rare  charm  of  California:  its  unequaled  capacity  for 


1865.]  THE    RARE    CHARM    OF    CALIFORNIA.  389 

fruit;  its  kindly  soil,  hiding  the  pleasant  homes  in  rich  trees, 
flowers  and  vines.  Its  towns  and  hamlets,  quite  free  from  the 
bare  naked  aspect  common  to  new  countries,  look  as  if  they  had 
been  settled  for  two  generations.  What  other  region  thus  com 
bines  tropical  productions  with  a  temperate  climate  ?  Where  else 
grow  fig.  almond,  olive,  orange  and  pomegranate,  side  by  side  with 
pear,  plum,  peach,  apple  and  cherry  ? 

There  are  fifty  thousand  Chinese  upon  the  Pacific  coast,  scat 
tered  through  the  large  towns  and  mining  regions.  They  are  en 
gaged  in  mining,  gardening,  horticulture,  peddling  fruit,  fish  and 
vegetables,  and  as  nurses,  waiters  and  cooks.  They  make  nine- 
tenths  of  the  cigars,  do  nearly  all  the  laundry  business,  cultivate 
several  great  vineyards,  are  operatives  in  the  woolen  factories,  and 
thousands  are  day  laborers  upon  the  Pacific  railroad,  swarming 
among  the  Sierras  like  flies  upon  a  honeycomb.  Some  are  heavy 
merchants,  large  importers  of  teas,  silks,  opium,  sugar  and  rice, 
noted  for  correctness  and  fair-dealing.  They  settle  all  money  dis 
putes  among  themselves,  never  appealing  to  the  courts.  They 
have  a  novel  bankruptcy  practice.  On  the  last  day  of  the  year, 
the  Chinaman  who  is  unable  to  meet  his  obligations  pays  the 
largest  per  centage  he  can,  declaring  his  inability  to  do  more.  On 
New  Year's  morning  his  creditors  forgive  him,  embrace  him,  anc| 
declare  him  '  free  of  the  books/  Afterward,  if  able,  he  cancels 
the  debt,  from  pride,  not  obligation. 

On  the  lower  coast,  they  are  extensively  engaged  in  fishing, 
shipping  the  product  of  their  labors  to  San  Francisco  and  China. 
As  house-servants  they  are  excellent.  Every  Celestial  in  the 
United  States,  according  to  his  geographical  origin,  belongs  to  one 
of  the  six  Chinese  companies,  whose  head-quarters  are  in  San 
Francisco.  In  sickness  and  health  they  exercise  a  paternal  disci 
pline  over  him.  Persons  desiring  servants,  procure  them  from 
one  of  these  companies,  who  warrant  them  for  twelve  months; 
will  replace  them  if  they  run  away  or  prove  unsatisfactory,  and 
insure  their  conviction  in  the  courts  if  they  are  guilty  of  crime. 
Filth  and  petty  larcenies  are  the  chief  offenses  to  be  charged 
against  them.  On  the  other  hand,  they  are  quiet,  temperate,  ingen 
ious,  frugal  and  industrious.  They  make  sad  work  of  speaking 
English ;  add  double  eto  words ;  change  r  to  I  and  v  to  b.  '  Want 


390  CHINAMEN    ON    THE    PACIFIC    COAST.          [1865. 

washee  ?'  asks  John  Chinaman.  '  Washee  shirtee  bellee  goodee. 
Only  two  bittee.'  In  a  few  large  towns  they  have  religious  tern, 
pies.  Their  chief  deity  is  called  '  Josh.'  In  a  violent  quarre] 
between  a  Chinaman  and  a  Jew,  the  former  wrathfully  said : 

1  Oh,  yesee ;  I  knowee  you — you  killee  Melican  man's  Josh  P 

On  our  soil  they  take  no  root;  bring  few  women  save  prosti 
tutes  ;  import  from  home  their  food,  of  which  rice  is  the  chief 
staple ;  send  home  their  money ;  send  home  even  their  dead,  em 
balmed,  to  rest  in  the  family  dwellings  of  their  far,  twilight  land, 
nursery  of  the  human  race,  where  the  Orient  joins  the  Occident. 

Industrious  and  frugal,  serene  and  silent  under  heavy  taxes  and 
frequent  kicks,  poor  John  Chinaman  puts  money  in  his  purse  and 
revels  in  dirt  and  degradation.  In  the  mines,  gleaning  only  where 
the  white  man  has  reaped,  at  the  year's  end  his  is  the  larger 
*  pile.'  When  he  finds  a  rich  lead,  by  mysterious  but  invariable 
coincidence  it  belongs  to  some  American — inexorable  policeman, 
who  bids  Johnny  '  Move  on.'  The  divine  right  of  numbers  and 
of  race  is  against  him.  Perfect  in  imitation,  where  female  labor  is 
scarce  he  proves  unrivaled  at  nursing,  cooking,  washing  and  iron 
ing.  Babies  intrusted  to  him  he  dandles  with  so  much  caution 
and  tenderness,  that  all  the  maternal  instinct  must  lurk  somewhere: 
under  his  long  pig-tail,  in  his  yellow  face,  or  moony  eyes.  My 
friend  had  a  masculine  domestic  named  Afoy,  who  scrubbed 
floors,  washed  dishes  and  cooked  dinners  with  grave  and  delib 
erate  fidelity.  He  characterized  me  as  the  '  Whong-ti,'  which  he 
averred  to  be  the  pure  Celestial  for  '  Big  man — heap  big  man !' 
I  half  suspect  that  he  was  a  solemn  wag  and  that  literally  it  means : 
'  Humbug !  Heap  humbug !' 

I  went  to  look  at  hydraulic  mining,  near  Placerville.  *  Coon 
Hill,'  originally  a  mound  of  many  acres,  bearing  a  settlement  of 
five  hundred  houses,  is  almost  washed  away  by  the  miners.  A 
little,  ragged  section  of  earth,  one  hundred  and  twenty,  feet  high 
— its  brown  dirt-walls  broken  by  a  stratum  of  yellowish  marl — - 
is  all  that  remains  of  the  hill,  rock-ribbed  and  ancient  as  the  sun. 
One  workman  stands  at  the  top,  directing  a  tiny  rill  which  comes 
pouring  over  the  edge,  cutting  the  earth  into  perpendicular  slices. 
The  rest  are  at  the  bottom.  Water  is  brought  down  to  them 
through  a  cast-iron  pipe  from  a  neighboring  summit.  At  the  crest 


1865.] 


AMONG    THE    HYDRAULIC    MINERS. 


391 


each  stream  is  two  feet  square ;  at  the  bottom  it  passes  through 
two  pipes  of  three-inch  hose.  The  condensation  and  the  fall,  of 
more  than  one  hundred  feet,  give  it  tremendous  force.  These 
slender  streams  directed  against  the  upright  bank  three  hundred 


yards  away,  send 
vast  clouds  of 
earth  and  bowl 
ders  flying  in  all 
directions,  bore 
into  the  compact 
gravel  like  huge 
augurs  and  pene 
trate  narrowest  crevices  of  the  rock,  soon  loosening  it  and  bringing 
it  down  in  fragments  twice  as  large  as  flour-barrels. 

At  the  bottom,  two  laborers  in  India-rubber  coats  and  leggings 


HYDRAULIC   MINING. 


392  THE    WONDERFUL    POWER    OF    WATER.         [1865. 

stand  in  water  up  to  the  thighs,  clearing  away  the  debris.  The 
stream  carries  off  the  dirt  and  stones  with  great  rapidity ;  but  they 
toil  with  picks  and  crow-bars  to  assist  the  heaviest  rocks  into  the 
flume.  This  is  a  wooden  trough  three  feet  in  diameter,  with  sharp 
descent,  where  all  the  waters  gather  in  a  boiling,  rushing  torrent 
which  washes  away  the  earth  and  bowlders-,  while  the  sinking 
gold  is  caught  by  slats  on  the  bottom.  Once  in  the  flume,  a  rock 
which  almost  fills  it  is  borne  along  like  a  cork.  With  almost 
every  stroke  of  the  pick  the  laborers  glance  up  uneasily  at  the 
quivering  earth-wall,  which  sometimes  tumbles  unexpectedly, 
causing  fatal  accidents.  When  it  is  about  to  fall  unobserved,  the 
pipe-men  whose  position  is  farther  away,  shout:  '  Look  out!'  and  the 
workmen  spring  back,  while  great  masses  of  earth  and  rock  come 
crashing  down.  Thev  labor  in  the  water  twelve  hours  daily  for 
three  dollars,  boarding  themselves.  By  day  their  clothing  is  never 
dry ;  yet  they  are  said  to  remain  healthy  though  prematurely  old. 

The  force  of  the  water  is  wonderful.  One  of  these  three-inch 
streams  would  extinguish  a  conflagration,  dwelling  and  all,  in  the 
briefest  period,  knocking  down  a  brick  building  like  a  child's  cob- 
house.  At  ten  feet  from  the  nozzle  it  would  cut  through  a  man 
as  if  he  were  tissue  paper ;  at  forty  feet  it  would  crush  him  to  a 
jelly.  The  proprietor  assured  me  that  with  these  three  little 
pipes  he  could  cut  down  and  wash  away  a  section  of  hill  twenty 
feet  long,  twenty  wide  and  two  hundred  high,  in  twelve  hours. 
The  water  cost  him  thirty  dollars  per  day.  No  gold  is  found  for 
the  first  hundred  feet  below  the  surface,  but  between  that  depth 
and  the  bed-rock  the  dirt  often  proves  very  rich.  Nearly  five 
millions  of  dollars  have  been  taken  out  in  the  vicinity  since  1849. 

It  was  a  novel  scene—  the  dirty  cascade  pouring  down  over  the 
top,  slicing  the  hill  as  with  a  knife;  the  glittering,  gauzy  streams 
darting  to  the  earth-wall,  raising  a  cloud  of  dirt  like  the  smoke 
from  a  field-piece,  and  knocking  out  huge  rocks,  to  fall  and  bound 
like  foot-balls;  the  serene  superintendent  directing  the  whole; 
the  men  in  the  water  with  browned  faces,  long  beards  and  pipes, 
glancing  up  nervously  at  the  Damocles-wall ;  and  the  great  hill 
melting  to  liquid  and  passing  away  through  a  wooden  trough  !  It 
showed  the  miraculous  power  of  water  in  changing  the  surface  of 
the  earth. 


1865.]  WAKM    CLIMATE    OF    PACIFIC    COAST.  393 


CHAPTER     XXXIII. 

ON  our  west  coast,  the  isothermal  line  bends  abruptly  northward. 
San  Francisco,  in  the  latitude  of  Richmond,  has  the  climate  of 
Savannah.  Yictoria,  on  Yancouver  Island,  far  north  of  Quebec 
is  as  warm  as  New  York.  In  Portland,  Oregon,  roses  grow  in 
open  air  throughout  the  year.  Walla  Walla,  in  Washington  Ter 
ritory,  latitude  forty-six  degrees  north,  corresponds  in  temperature 
to  Washington  City,  in  thirty-nine ;  Clark's  Fork,  Idaho,  in  forty- 
eight,  to  St.  Joseph,  Missouri,  in  forty;  Bitter  Root  Yalley, 
Montana,  in  forty-six,  to  Philadelphia,  in  forty. 

All  points  on  the  Pacific  slope  are  as  warm  as  those  from  six  to 
ten  degrees  farther  south  on  the  Atlantic  side.  This  difference  is 
sometimes  imputed  to  the  numberless  hot  springs  among  the  head 
waters  of  the  Columbia — indeed,  everywhere  from  the  Rocky 
Mountains  to  the  Pacific.  But  the  more  prevalent  theory  refers 
it  to  a  current  of  warm  water  and  air  from  the  Indian  ocean,  strik 
ing  the  coast  at  an  acute  angle,  near  San  Francisco,  and  thence 
flowing  northward.  The  Coast  Range  and  Cascade  mountains 
arrest  and  condense  the  clouds,  causing  the  winters  of  western 
Oregon,  in  which  the  sun  seldom  shines  on  the  evil  or  on  the 
good,  and  the  rain  steadily  falls  both  upon  the  just  and  the  unjust. 
Satirical  Californians  call  their  northern  neighbors  '  Web-feet.' 

The  stage  route  from  Oroville,  (railroad  terminus  seventy  miles 
north  of  Sacramento,)  to  Portland,  Oregon,  is  six  hundred  and 
forty-two  miles  long.  In  summer  the  trip  consumes  less  than  a 
week.  In  winter,  stage-travelers  pay  their  fares  for  the  privilege 
of  being  jolted  in  mud- wagons,  or  dislocated  on  horseback,  or 
mired  on  foot.  Then  the  trip  seems  interminable,  and  there  are 
rumors  of  passengers  who  have  died  of  old  age  upon  the  road. 


394  SCENE    OF    A    CALIFORNIA    STORY.  [1865. 

But  starting  on  the  thirteenth  of  July  we  found  the  summer 
journey  speedy  and  agreeable.  At  Grass  Valley,  in  addition  to 
the  warm  reception  accorded  him,  the  programme  required  Mr. 
Colfax  to  kiss  a  bevy  of  eight  or  ten  bright-eyed  young  ladies, 
He  gave  the  greeting  with  that  zeal  and  resignation  which  he 
brings  to  all  the  duties  and  cares  of  public  life. 

Near  Marysville  we  passed  the  little  village  of  Yuba  Dam,  the 
scene  of  an  early  California  story,  which  Harpers  Monthly  first 
made  public.  It  avers  that  on  a  quiet  Sunday  morning  a  traveler 
reached  the  three  little  houses  which  comprise  the  town. 

'My  friend.'  he  asked  of  a  citizen,  '  what  village  is  this?' 

'  Yuby  Dam.' 

The  stranger,  shocked  at  such  impoliteness  and  profanity,  put 
spurs  to  his  horse.  At  the  door  of  the  next  cabin  stood  a  decent 
housewife,  broom  in  hand.  He  repeated  the  inquiry : 

*  Madam  will  you  please  tell  me  the  name  of  this  village  ?' 
'  Yuby  Dam.' 

Still  more  scandalized,  the  interrogator  rode  on  until  he  met  a 
little  boy  playing  in  the  street.  Here  at  least  he  might  obtain  a 
proper  answer : 

*  My  son,  what  is  this  place  called  ?' 
'Yuby  Dam!' 

*  Heavens!'  exclaimed  the  astounded  stranger  as  he  galloped  out 
of  the   town.     '  What  a  place  is  this,  where  even   the  women  and 
children  swear — and  on  Sunday  too !' 

At  Chico  we  encountered  General  John  Bidwell,  Congressional 
representative  from  northern  California.  He  resided  here  upon 
his  ranch  of  twenty-thousand  acres  long  before  the  country  was 
settled  by  Americans,  and  is  still  one  of  the  most  extensive  farmers 
in  the  United  States. 

The  enormous  corn,  green  meadows,  and  great  fields  of  stubble 
with  barley  stacks  and  wheat  sheaves  began  to  wear  the  parched, 
fading  look  of  the  rainless  months.  We  passed  the  grave  of  a  rich 
citizen,  buried  upon  his  own  farm,  whose  monument  bears  the 
inscription,  written  by  himself: 

'  Thomas  M.  "Wright,  lived  and  died  an  atheist,  fearing  no  hell,  hoping  for  no  heaven 
—a  friend  and  advocate  of  mental  liberty.' 


1865.] 


THE    WIDOW    OF    JOHN    BROWN. 


395 


At  midnight  we  passed  through  the  little  town  of  Red  Bluffs, 
Tehama  (lowlands),  county,  head  of  navigation  on  the  Sacramento 
river.  Here  lives  the  widow  of  old  John  Brown,  wholly  depend 
ent  upon  her  own  labor.  Her  daughters  teach  in  the  public 
schools,  while  she  ministers  as  nurse  and  physician  among  neigh 
boring  families,  by  whom  she  is  greatly  loved. 


MOUNT    SHASTA    CALIFORNIA.   FiiO.il    SHASTA    VALLEY. 

This  sparsely-settled  mountain  region  abounds  in  tall  pines,  with 
long  hairy  strands  of  brown  Spanish  moss  pendent  from  their 
boughs,  and  straggling  white-oaks  festooned  with  misletoe  of  vivid 
green,  yellowing  as  death  approaches.  This  parasite,  absorbing 
the  sap  of  the  tree,  soon  kills  it,  and  then  itself  perishes. 

Eighty  miles  to  the  east  of  our  road,  Shasta,  one  of  the  highest 
California  peaks,  northern  monarch  of  the  Sierra  Nevadas,  rears 
its  broken  crest  fourteen  thousand  feet  above  sea-level.  Its 
summit,  reached  with  difficulty,  commands  a  grand,  inspiring 
view.  Among  its  eternal  snows  gushes  a  boiling-hot  sulphur 
spring.  Shasta  is  an  isolated,  extinct  volcano — a  mountain  of 
dazzling  white,  beyond  green,  wooded  valleys  and  the  purple  hills 
of  the  horizon.  It  is  about  one  thousand  feet  higher  than  Pike's 
Peak  and  more  impressive,  because  the  contrasting  vegetation  is 
warmer  and  richer. 


896          SPELLING    'YREKA  BAKERY'   BACKWARD.      [1865. 

The  hills  abound  in  glossy  evergreen  oaks,  whose  long  branches 
droop  to  the  ground.  The  exquisite  mountain  lily,  of  bluish 
white,  with  stems  three  or  four  feet  high  and  blossoms  somewhat 
like  those  of  the  peerless  water  lily,  also  enriches  the  landscape. 

Yreka,  the  northern  settlement  of  California,  is  a  mountain 
town  thirty-five  hundred  feet  above  the  sea.  It  is  the  site  of 
considerable  placer  mining.  The  city  and  the  gold-diggers  are 
supplied  with  water  by  a  canal  one  hundred  miles  long.  The 
name — pronounced  '  Wy-reka7 — is  derived  from  a  tribe  of  Indians. 
Here  a  pioneer  baker  placed  over  his  door  the  sign  :  *  Yreka 
Bakery;'  and  puzzled  strangers  were  often  invited  to  try  the 
experiment  of  spelling  the  two  words  backward. 

Crossing  a  little  stream  of  the  Siskiyou  mountains,  three  hun 
dred  miles  north  of  Sacramento,  we  were  in  Oregon.  From  the 
summit,  five  thousand  five  hundred  feet  above  the  sea,  we  saw 
Pilot  Mountain,  named  by  Fremont,  and  crowned  by  an  enormous 
granite  bowlder,  apparently  a  mile  in  diameter.  Descending,  we 
found  a-  changed  vegetation,  new  wild  flowers,  and  abundance  of 
oak,  maple  and  madrona  or  mountain  laurel.  The  latter  is  an 
evergreen  of  rarest  beauty,  sometimes  seventy  feet  high,  with 
vivid,  shining  leaves  and  bark  which  deadens  and  drops  off  yearly, 
leaving  smooth  stem  and  branches  of  delicate  pale  red. 

In  general,  southern  Oregon  is  little  inhabited,  and  its  sterile 
mountains  are  densely  timbered.  But  our  road  threads  lovely 
valleys  of  tall  timothy  and  golden  wheat,  among  dazzling  white 
farm-houses,  their  porches  and  verandas  shaded  with  locusts  and 
willows  and  flanked  by  immense  barns  for  the  long  winters; 
young  orchards  heavy  with  ripening  plums  and  pears,  apples  and 
peaches ;  clear  rills  which  pour  down  the  hill-sides  to  the  settlers' 
doors ;  log  school-houses,  '  Where  young  Ambition  climbs  his  little 
ladder,  and  boyish  Genius  plumes  his  half-fledged  wings.' 

In  passing  from  one  to  another  of  these  narrow  valleys,  we  cross 
abrupt  wooded  mountains  and  go  through  placer  gold-diggings. 
The  gold  mines  of  the  young  State  have  already  contributed  more 
than  twelve  millions  of  dollars  to  the  treasury  of  the  world.  But 
our  richest  mineral  yields  in  the  Northwest  are  likely  to  come  from 
the  silver  of  Oregon  and  Idaho.  Treasure  to  the  amount  of  two 
million  dollars  per  month  sometimes  passes  down  the  Columbia 


1865.]        REMINISCENCES    OF    GENERAL    GRANT.  397 

from  these  newly-opened  regions.  It  has  been  well  suggested  that, 
as  the  entrance  to  San  Francisco  bay  is  called  the  Golden  Gate, 
the  mouth  of  the  Columbia  should  be  named  the  Silver  Gate. 

At  one  dwelling  an  infant  grizzly  bear,  aged  ten  weeks  and 
weighing  two  hundred  and  fifty  pounds,  is  tied  to  a  stake. 
Checking  him  with  a  cart-whip  when  too  playful,  the  owner  frolics 
fearlessly  with  young  Bruin.  When  Lola  Montez  resided  in  Cali 
fornia  she  also  kept  a  grizzly  as  a  household  pet. 

At  Jacksonville,  Jackson  county,  we  learn  that  a  fortunate 
miner  has  taken  out  two  hundred  and  eight  dollars  within  the  last 
twenty -four  hours.  The  placer  diggings  of  the  county  yield 
fifty  thousand  dollars  monthly. 

At  Kocky  Point  we  cross  Rogue  river  upon  an  excellent  toll- 
bridge.  A  rival  bridge-owner,  three  miles  below,  made  his  struc 
ture  free ;  arid  for  a  time  took  all  the  travel.  But  this  original 
Jacob  bought  the  land  on  Evans  creek,  six  miles  to  the  eastward 
and  running  parallel  with  the  river,  at  its  only  fordable  point; 
fenced  up  the  ford  and  then  bridged  the  creek,  charging  toll  there 
for  both  streams.  Discomfited  by  the  shrewd  maneuver,  the  rival 
retired  from  the  contest.  Some  of  the  noble  fir  trees  are  one 
hundred  and  fifty  feet  high  and  three  feet  in  diameter. 

There  are  many  local  histories  and  traditions.  For  a  number 
of  years,  Ulysses  S.  Grant,  then  a  captain  in  the  army,  was 
stationed  in  Oregon.  The  pioneers  give  interesting  reminiscences 
of  him.  His  life  was  commonplace  and  unnoticeable.  He  was  a 
reticent,  undemonstrative,  unambitious  officer,  habitually  addicted 
to  conviviality.  How  strange  are  the  vagaries  of  destiny !  How 
few  men  find  the  one  place  and  opportunity  for  showing  their  highest 
capacity !  But  for  the  great  rebellion,  Grant  had  lived  and  died 
only  to  be  remembered  as  an  ordinary,  silent,  honest,  infan 
try  captain,  of  moderate  abilities.  But  for  the  national  contest 
about  the  extension  of  slavery,  Abraham  Lincoln  had  been  known 
only  as  a  country  lawyer,  with  unusual  capacity  for  convincing 
juries,  and  telling  droll,  '  pat'  stories. 

The  Pacific  coast  is  the  school  from  which  our  best  officers 
graduated.  Here  Sherman  lived  for  years.  Here  Jo  Hooker, 
when  a  captain,  constructed  a  military  road  over  which  our  coach 
rolls  to-day.  It  passes  Leland  post-office,  Josephine  county,  on 


398  NOTEWORTHY    POINTS    ON    THE    ROAD.         [1865, 

Grave  creek — all  commemorating  Josephine  Leland,  a  beautiful 
girl,  who  died  of  fever,  and  whose  body  Indians  disinterred  and 
mutilated.  Seven  of  the  savage  criminals  were  afterward  killed 
and  buried  near  the  outraged  grave. 

Another  stream  is  called  'Jump-off-Jo  creek.'  During  the 
Indian  war  of  1854,  General  Jo  Lane  was  pursued  by  a  red  foo 
in  a  ride  for  life;  when  his  men  shouting,  'Jump  off,  Jo!'  he 
obeyed,  and  was  saved. 

We  pass  'Six-bit  ranch,'  perpetuating  the  eccentricity  of  an 
old  settler.  Like  Mrs.  John  Gilpin,  though  on  pleasure  he  was 
bent,  he  had  a  frugal  mind.  Just  as  an  Indian  was  about  to  be 
hanged  for  murder,  he  mounted  the  scaffold  and  dunned  the 
doomed  man  for  six  bits  ( seventy -five  cents.) 

At  the  next  dining  station  we  found  the  Tribune,  Independent, 
and  Atlantic  Monthly,  upon  our  host's  parlor  table,  and  of  course 
intelligent,  agreeable  society  in  his  household. 

In  Douglas  county,  self-invited  guests,  we  breakfasted  with 
Jesse  Applegate,  a  thoroughly  original  and  entertaining  pioneer — 
a  man  of  genius,  too  proud  to  practice  the  politician's  arts,  and 
therefore  in  private  life.  He  came  here  in  1843,  and  was  most 
influential  in  shaping  the  political  character  of  Oregon.  He 
asserts  that  the  Tribune,  which,  before  the  overland  telegraph,  cir 
culated  here  more  widely  than  any  other  journal,  home  or  distant, 
saved  the  State  to  freedom  and  to  loyalty.  Upon  his  farm  and 
the  adjacent  ones  of  his  children,  embracing  three  thousand  acres, 
Mr.  Applegate  sustains  one  hundred  cattle  and  one  thousand 
sheep.  He  has  sold  eight  thousand  dollars  worth  of  beeves  in.  a 
single  year.  His  rick  contains  one  hundred  and  twenty  tons  of 
hay,  already  kept  three  years  for  his  sheep,  through  winters  so 
mild  as  not  to  require  it. 

At  last  we  descended  from  the  summit  of  the  Calapooya 
mountains  into  the  great  Wallamet  *  valley,  fifty  miles  by  one 
hundred — the  garden  of  Oregon,  and  containing  half  of  its 
entire  population.  To  one  coming  from  dreary  Nevada  deserts, 
or  California  fields  dull  and  withered  in  the  rainless  months, 

*  Often  improperly  spelled  Willamette.  It  is  an  Indian  word  of  the  same  class  with 
Walla  Walla.  The  '  a'  is  broad  and  the  accent  upon  the  first  syllable. 


1865.]  PLENTIFULNESS    OF    BABIES.  399 

very  delightful  are  its  deep  forests,  rich  meadows  and  groves 
of  drooping  oaks — its  pleasant  homes,  embowered  in  green 
— its  bright,  flowing  river  darkened  with  slender  pines.  Except 
ing  possibly  the  Indian  Territory  south  of  Kansas,  it  is  the  richest 
farming  region  of  the  United  States ;  though  the  fathomless  mud 
and  endless  rain  of  the  winters  are  serious  drawbacks.  The 
Rogue  river  valley,  though  smaller,  is  nearly  as  fruitful. 

Oregon  is  prolific  in  grain,  grass,  fruit  and  timber.  As  in  all 
new  countries,  the  bountifulness  of  Nature  is  most  strikingly 
exhibited  in  human  life.  Old  communities  are  full,  and  children 
comparatively  rare.  New  countries  must  be  peopled,  and  children 
abound.  About  the  log  houses  everywhere  on  our  frontier,  from 
six  to  a  dozen  white-headed  babies  attest  the  fact.  Oregon  is 
specially  blest.  A  Marion  county  lady  at  sixty  years  of  age, 
became  the  mother  of  an  infant.  Another  had  two  children  born 
within  ten  months. 

The  former  United  States  law  regulating  public  lands  in  this 
State,  gave  three  hundred  and  twenty  acres  to  an  unmarried 
settler,  and  six  hundred  and  forty  to  him  who  had  a  wife.  As 
the  young  Territory  had  five  times  more  men  than  women,  girls 
married  very  young ;  and  some  became  mothers  at  thirteen  and 
fourteen. 

Salem,  the  pleasant  capital  of  the  State,  is  a  village  of  two 
thousand  people,  on  the  Wallamet.  Here  we  take  a  little  steamer 
for  Oregon  City,  where  we  debark  to  ride  a  mile  upon  a  wooden 
railroad,  past  broken  picturesque  falls,  with  eternal  clouds  of  mist 
winding  across  the  broad  river.  The  silvery  water  contrasts  im 
pressively  with  the  deep  gloom  of  environing  rocks  and  somber 
hills.  Near  the  falls  is  a  great  brick  woolen  factory,  the  fourth 
in  the  State. 

Below  the  cascade,  a  second  steamer  waits  to  bear  us  a  few  miles 
further,  to  Portland,  the  metropolis  of  Oregon.  Many  attempts 
have  been  made  to  found  a  city  at  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia, 
which  seemed  the  natural  point  for  a  commercial  center.  But 
those  mysterious  laws  which  determine  the  sites  of  cities,  vetoed 
the  resolution  and  established  the  coming  town  on  the  Wallamet, 
twelve  miles  above  its  junction  with  the.  Columbia  and  a  hundred 
and  thirty  above  the  Columbia's  mouth. 


400 


PORTLAND    STREET    AND    RIVER    SCENES.      [1865 


PORTLAND  OREGON,  ON  THE  FOURTH  OF  JULY,  1865. 


We  found  Portland  a  pleasant,  straggling,  growing  city  of  five 
thousand  people,  on  the  smooth,  glassy  transparent  river,  broken 
just  above  by  a  mid-channel  island,  of  vivid,  drooping  foliage. 

The  town  is  in 
closed  on  the 
three  land  sides 
by  an  amphithe 
ater  of  symmetric 
hills,  covered 
with  tall,  dark 
pines.  At  the 
great  wharves 
were  river  steam 
boats,  sailing  ves 
sels  from  San 
Francisco,  Sand 
wich  Islands, 
China  and  the 
Atlantic  coast; 
and  ocean  steamers  which  ply  to  Vancouver  Island  and  to  San 
Francisco.  On  the  lower  business  streets,  ample  brick  blocks ; 
above,  graceful  churches,  school-houses  and  spacious  frame  dwell 
ings,  scattering  into  an  irregular  fringe  of  little  cottages  and  rough 
cabins  far  up  among  hill-side  stumps. 

The  largest  and  most  enthusiastic  concourse  of  citizens  we  had 
seen  since  leaving  New  York  was  waiting  to  receive  Mr.  Colfax. 
The  Stars  and  Stripes  everywhere  flying  ;  streets  filled  with  busy, 
intelligent  faces ;  fine  horses  with  light  carriages  trotting  up  the 
macadamized  road  along  the  river  toward  a  delightful  suburban 
resort  known  as  the  White  House.  Driving  is  the  pastime  of  the 
Pacific  coast,  and  horse-flesh  its  ruling  passion. 

Portland  has  a  heavy  trade,  and  is  full  of  thrift  and  enterprise. 
It  was  founded  in  1845,  by  two  wandering  Yankees,  Prettigrow 
from  Portland,  and  Lovejoy  from  Boston.  Each  desired  to  give 
it  the  name  of  his  birthplace;  and  they  finally  decided  the  vexed 
question  by  tossing  up  the  only  coin  in  their  possession — a  rusty 
copper.  Heads  won ;  wherefore  the  metropolis  of  the  North  Pa 
cific  is  Portland,  not  Boston !  Having  no  great  city  within  seven 


1865.]  EXCURSION    UP    THE    COLUMBIA.  401 

hundred  miles,  it  is  the  grand  supply-point  for  Oregon  Wash 
ington  and  Idaho.  Just  before  our  arrival,  a  corner  lot  fifty  feet 
by  a  hundred,  sold  for  twenty-thousand  dollars,  gold. 

With  a  party  of  Portlanders,  we  made  an  excursion  up  the 
Columbia,  starting  upon  the  fine  steamer  New  World.  She  used 
to  run  upon  the  Hudson;  but  through  debt  and  ill-luck  fell  into 
the  clutches  of  the  New  York  sheriff.  Her  captain,  having 
secretly  provisioned  her  for  a  long  voyage,  seduced  that  functionary 
into  a  little  ride  down  the  harbor ;  carried  him  beyond  his  own 
jurisdiction;  and  then  offered  him  the  option  of  going  ashore  or  a 
free  passage  to  California.  The  outwitted  sheriff  landed ;  but  the 
New  World  continued  around  the  Horn,  to  the  hopeless  bereave 
ment  of  her  creditors. 

Old  geographers  called  this  stream  Oregon---'  the  river  of  the 
west ;'  and  the  great  State  still  fittingly  bears  that  earlier  and 
better  name.  The  Columbia  is  six  miles  wide  at  its  mouth,  and 
one  mile  wide  a  hundred  miles  above. 

Clear,  blue,  glassy,  dotted  with  little  islands  of  greenest  foliage, 
and  broken  by  dangerous  rapids  which  make  steamers  shase  like 
rocking-chairs,  the  Columbia  is  unrivaled  upon  our  continent,  in 
grandeur  and  magnitude.  The  Hudson  no  more  compares  with  it 
than  does  the  Arkansas  with  the  Hudson. 

Beside  it  rise  grand  abrupt  mountains,  deeply  wooded  with  firs, 
crowned  with  stupendous  rocks,  carpeted  by  yellow  moss,  girdled 
with  strands  of  snowy  cloud,  and  streaked  with  water-falls  of 
perfect  whiteness. 

Cape  Horn  is  a  columnar  wall  of  basaltic  stone,  at  some  points 
eeven  hundred  feet  in  hight — the  Palisades  on  a  larger  scale. 
Over  many  vast  upright  rocks  little  falls  take  bold  leaps,  dis 
solving  into  spray  before  reaching  the  bottom.  Where  the 
steep  bank  of  velvet  grass  and  pine-crowned  rocks  is  one-third 
of  a  mile  high,  Horse-tail  Fall,  softened  by  delicate  mist,  hangs  like 
an  exquisite  strand  of  snowy  hair,  broken  only  once  in  a  descent 
of  three  hundred  and  sixty  feet,  'a  strip  of  silver  in  a  fringe  of 
green.'  Castle  Eock,  a  solitary  basaltic  dome  surrounded  by 
water  and  quite  isolated  from  the  shore,  rises  grand  and  gloomy 
for  eight  hundred  feet.  Tall  pines  find  root  among  its  impercep 
tible  fissures  and  on  its  bare  summit. 


402  LINCOLN,    GRANT    AND     SHERIDAN.  [1865. 

Here  we  reach  the  Lower  Cascades,  impassable  for  boats,  and 
take  a  steam  railway  along  the  rugged  bank  for  five  miles. 

Our  train  passes  a  little  log  block  house  where  in  1856  Indiana 
beseiged  a  party  of  white  men  for  two  days.  They  were  finally 
routed  in  a  dashing  charge  by  a  modest  young  lieutenant  of  the 
United  States  army,  whose  name  was  Phil.  Sheridan.  At  the 
outbreak  of  the  rebellion  he  confidentially  assured  a  friend  of  his 
determination  to  win  a  captain's  com  mission  or  die  in  the  attempt  1 


SHERIDAN'S  FIRST  BATTLE-GROUND,  COLUMBIA  RIVER,  OREGON. 


Lincoln  thought  it  would  fill  the  measure  of  his  wildest  ambition 
to  be  made  vice-president !  Grant  only  aspired  to  the  city  council 
of  Galena,  that  he  might  have  a  new  sidewalk  from  the  depot  I 
Sheridan  merely  hoped  to  become  captain  of  a  company ! 

'  How  little  do  we  know  of  what  we  are, 
How  less,  of  what  we  may  be  1' 

After  leaving  the  railway  we  took  the  new  steamer  Oneonta. 
built  on  the  ground,  and  elegantly  furnished.  She  is  two  hundred 
feet  long,  and-  cost  eighty  thousand  dollars.  Upon  her  we  steamed 
up  the  current  for  five  hours,  to  the  flourishing  town  of  Dalles, 
the  third  in  the  State,  containing  twenty-five  hundred  inhabitants. 


1865.]         CURIOUS    DALLES    OF    THE    COLUMBIA.  403 

Here  are  the  second  impassable  rapids,  and  the  second  railroad 
of  fourteen  miles,  built  at  heavy  expense,  and  accompanied  by  a 
telegraph  wire.  Here  for  ten  miles  are  the  Dalles  (flag-stones)  of 
the  Columbia,  worthy  of  the  prominence  given  them  by  Wash 
ington  Irving,  Lewis  and  Clark,  and  other  early  writers,  as  the 
most  noteworthy  feature  of  all  this  curious  region.  The  river, 
above  and  below  so  broad  and  glassy,  is  here  of  fathomless  depth, 
compressed  into  one-tenth  its  usual  limits;  and  even  this  nar 
row  stream  is  broken  by  scores  of  dark -brown  rocks.  Boiling, 
swelling  and  hissing,  the  torrent  rushes  through  its  close,  tortuous 
confines,  lashing  the  smooth  rocks  in  foamy  passion — a  river  of 
eddies  and  troughs,  whirlpools  and  shooting  rockets  of  water, 
beating  out  its  life  against  prison  walls.  On  the  bank,  immense 
drifts  of  sand,  white  as  snow,  prove  most  serious  obstructions  to 
the  locomotive. 

On  the  flat  shore-rocks  are  the  bark  lodges  of  Wascopin  Induins ; 
naked  children,  with  stomachs  distended  like  bladders,  rolling  and 
running  in  the  sand ;  filthy,  repulsive  women,  who  seem  hardly 
members  of  the  human  race,  bearing  bundles  of  faggots  upon  their 
heads ;  and  men  at  the  water's  edge,  spearing  savory  salmon,  often 
weighing  twenty -five  pounds  each.  On  the  south  in  full  view  tow 
ers  Mount  Hood,  the  grandest  peak  on  our  continent. 

It  is  believed  that  the  great  basin  of  the  Upper  Columbia,  con 
taining  four  hundred  thousand  square  miles,  was  once  a  vast  inland 
sea,  broken  only  by*a  few  islands  which  are  now  mountain  peaks. 
If  this  theory  be  true,  what  resistless  floods  must  have  burst 
through  the  mountain-wall  and  rolled  on  to  the  might}?-  ocean ! 

The  railway  taking  us  past  the  rapids  leaves  us  at  Celilo,  a  village 
of  a  dozen  dwellings.  On  the  river  bank  is  the  largest  warehouse 
in  the  United  States,  over  eleven  hundred  feet  long,  built  to 
receive  the  heavy  Idaho  freights. 

Here  we  embark  on  the  Owyhee*  another  new  steamer  built 
above  these  rapids.  It  is  one  hundred  and  twenty  feet  long,  and 
cost  thirty -two  thousand  dollars. 

After  a  brief  rest  upon  the  steamer,  Messrs.  Colfax  and  Bross 

*  So  called  from  one  of  the  richest  mining  districts  of  the  United  States,  in  Idaho, 
which  originally  derived  the  mellow  name  from  a  Sandwich  Island. 


404 


A    BIT    OF    ORATORICAL     FUN. 


[1865. 


with  the  Portland  friends  who  accompanied  us,  returned  to  Dalles 
to  address  the  assembled  citizens  on  public  affairs.  Mr.  Bowles 
and  myself,  wearied  with  the  excitement  of  travel,  spent  a  quiet 
evening  upon  the  little  *  Owyhee '  in  company  with  Messrs. 
Deady  and  Read  of  Portland.  Just  after  we  had  gone  to  bed, 
the  locomotive  whistle  announced  the  return  of  the  company. 


A   MIDNIGHT   RECEPTION   TO   SPEAKER   COLFAX. 


As  Mr.  Colfax, 
through  the 
entire  journey 
had  been  greet 
ed  with  flags 
and  speeches, 

banquets  and  brass  bands  on  every  conceivable  and  inconceiva^ 
ble  occasion,  one  of  our  quartette  instantly  suggested  that  he 
should  enjoy  the  novelty  of  a  reception  from  his  own  comrades. 
Enveloping  ourselves  in  sheets,  we  stepped  into  the  dimly-lighted 
cabin  and  waited  for  the  arriving  orators  and  listeners.  They 
soon  came  on  board,  Mr.  Colfax,  fortunately,  at  their  head.  Reach 
ing  our  end  of  the  saloon,  he  was  a  good  deal  startled  by  four 
white,  sepulchral  figures.  Like  the  Ancient  Mariner,  almost  he 
dreamed  that  he  had  died  and  was  a  blessed  ghost.  Apparently 


1865.]    NORTHERN    PACIFIC    RAILROAD    WANTED.          405 

here  was  a  committee  of  shades  about  to  give  him  the  last  reception. 
One  of  the  airy  effigies  stepping  forward,  immediately  began  a 
speech  of  welcome  which  at  first  bewildered  and  surprised  the  new 
comers,  but  before  its  close,  excited  their  uproarious  laughter.  The 
speaker  of  the  House  promptly  recovered  himself ;  and  the  moment 
it  was  ended,  made  a  neat  and  graceful  reply,  abounding  in  happy 
hits  at  the  friends  who  welcomed  him.  Mr.  Colfax  has  been  the 
victim  of  more  speeches  than  any  other  public  man  in  the  nation ; 
but  he  never  assisted  at  any  ceremony  so  unique  and  memorable 
as  this  midnight  reception  among  the  forests  of  the  Columbia. 

The  next  morning  the  Owyhee  steamed  on.  Thus  far  we 
have  sailed  up  a  stream  with  deep  forests  of  pines,  firs  and 
cedars — with  no  branches  on  the  side  next  to  the  prevailing 
winds — covering  the  hills  and  cliffs.  Here  is  classic  ground  here  : 

'  The  continuous  woods, 
Where  rolls  the  Oregon,  and  hears  no  sound 
Save  its  own  dashings.' 

But  Bryant  sang  of  a  past  era.  Now  a  tide  of  commerce  and  im 
migration  pours  through  this  remote  solitude ;  and  the  surprised 
traveler  finds  railway  carriages  and  steamers,  with  the  same  luxury 
and  elegance  he  is  wont  to  enjoy  between  Boston  and  New  York. 

Above  the  Dalles  the  woods  disappear ;  the  banks  are  smooth, 
hills  of  velvet  grass,  without  leaf  or  shrub  in  the  whole  range  of 
vision.  The  entire  country,  watered  by  the  upper  Columbia,  em 
bracing  eastern  Oregon,  Washington,  Idaho,  and  a  portion  of  Mon 
tana,  looks  a  dreary  desert ;  but  its  grasses  are  rich  and  nutritive. 

Our  trip  ended  at  Wright's  Harbor,  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles 
above  Portland.  Steamers  run  nearly  three  hundred  miles  higher 
to  impassable  rapids ;  and  even  above  them  a  little  boat  plies  on 
the  Snake  river,  in  Idaho.  But  Umatillais  the  head  of  sure  navi 
gation  on  the  Columbia.  It  might  be  connected  with  the  head  of 
navigation  on  the  Missouri,  by  railroad  of  about  six  hundred  miles. 
Already  a  short  route  from  Oregon  to  Montana  has  been  opened 
via  the  Pen  d'Oreille  lake  and  river,  upon  which  small  steamers  are 
plying. 

Here  should  pass  a  northern  Pacific  railroad.  The  great  cereal 
interests  of  our  Northwest,  the  copper  and  iron  resources  of  Lake 


406  A  COUPLE  OF  'LITTLE  STORIES.'          [1865. 

Superior^  the  lumber  forests  of  Minnesota,  the  incalculably  rich 
gold  and  silver  mines  of  Montana  and  Idaho,  and  the  vast  lumber, 
fishing,  and  mineral  interests  of  Oregon  and  Washington  impera 
tively  require  steam  communication  with  both  oceans.  A  northern 
railway  line  should  be  inaugurated  without  delay. 

Two  'little  stories'  shall  close  this  rambling  chapter.  A  sarcas 
tic  resident  was  rallying  one  of  my  traveling  companions  on  his  in 
ability  to  drink  buttermilk,  declaring  that  no  man  can  be  quite 
civilized  who  does  not  relish  that  beverage.  Mr.  B.  quietly  an 
swered  him: 

1  In  my  section  we  give  the  buttermilk  to  our  pigs !' 

At  an  Oregon  farm-house,  early  one  morning,  we  tapped  for  ad 
mission.  The  door  was  opened  by  a  girl  of  fifteen,  of  whom  our 
spokesman  asked : 

'  Is  your  father  here  ?' 

1  No  sir ;  he  is  mowing  in  the  field.' 

1  Yery  well ;  we  will  go  out  to  find  him  and  then  return  and 
breakfast  with  you.' 

At  this  unexpected  proposition,  which  was  followed  by  our  names, 
the  damsel  opened  wide  her  two  astonished  eyes  ;  but  in  a  moment 
recovering  herself,  cheerfully  acquiesced  in  the  arrangement.  Two 
hours  later,  after  the  morning  meal  and  a  delightful  visit,  as  Mr. 
Colfax  shook  hands  with  her  at  parting,  he  said  : 

*  You  were  a  good  deal  surprised  at  our  inviting  ourselves  to 
breakfast,  were  you  not?' 

"  •  '  O,  no  sir.     I  was  surprised  ;  but  not  at  that.' 

*  What  then?' 

*  At  hearing  your  name.'    (Yery  earnestly.)    *  It  is  not  often  that 
•we  see  a  great  man  in  this  country !' 


1865.]  A    FRONTIER    SUPREME    COURT.  407 


CHAPTER     XXXIV.  , 

WHEN  we  acquired  Oregon  it  extended  north  to  British  Colum 
bia.  But  the  upper  half,  through  its  lumber  and  fishing  interests, 
and  its  own  outlet  to  the  sea — quite  distinct  from  the  farming  and 
mineral  regions  of  the  lower — was  cut  off  and  made  a  separate 
Territory.  Its  resources  prove  far  richer  than  they  promised. 
And  Eussian  America,  added  to  our  area  by  that  absorption  which 
must  ultimately  give  us  the  entire  continent,  will  likewise  better 
expectation.  American  skill  and  enterprise  will  develop  it; 
American  patriotism  should  name  it.  One  man  is  commemorated 
by  an  infant  State;  one  other  ought  to  be.  We  have  the  Terri 
tory  of  Washington ;  let  us  have  the  Territory  of  Lincoln. 

The  first  settlers  of  Oregon  crossed  the  continent  through  the 
South  Pass,  in  1839,  nine  years  before  the  gold  discoveries  in 
California.  They  were  stimulated  by  the  richness  and  beauty  of 
Wallamet  valley,  whose  fame  had  penetrated  even  to  Missouri  and 
Ohio ;  and  by  our  national  tendency  to  go  to  the  farthest  place. 
They  were  not  equal  in  intelligence  to  the  pioneers  of  California 
or  of  Kansas ;  but  their  history  affords  striking  examples  of  the 
capacity  for  self-government  among  our  '  plain  people,' — of  that 
ingrained  respect  for  law  and  order  and  decisions  of  the  majority, 
which  forms  the  *  bed-rock'  of  American  stability  and  greatness. 

In  early  days,  the  miners  of  Jacksonville  elected  an  alcalde. 
A  party  to  a  contested  claim  case,  thinking  himself  wronged, 
posted  this  notice:  'Whereas,  the  alcalde  has  given  an  unjust 
and  corrupt  decision  against  me,  on  Sunday  next  I  shall  take 
an  appeal  to  the  supreme  court.'  Sunday  saw  a  hundred  miners 
convened,  from  curiosity  to  learn  what  the  supreme  court 
was.  They  themselves  were  that  august  tribunal !  The  aggrieved 


408         OREGON  PIONEERS  GOVERN  THEMSELVES.    [1865. 

party  organized  them  into  a  mass  meeting  ;  they  re-tried  the  case 
and  rendered  a  verdict  reversing  the  alcalde's  decision.  All 
acquiesced  in  this  assize  of  original  and  final  jurisdiction. 

In  that  remote  region,  then  as  far  from  civilization  as  the  Nile, 
the  pioneers  found  themselves  surrounded  by  hostile  Indians,  with 
no  law  for  the  protection  of  life  and  property,  and  no  hope  of  aid 
from  without.  The  squatters  met  the  emergency  by  establishing 
a  provisional  government,  which  ruled  Oregon  for  eight  years. 
Unrecognized  by  the  United  States,  without  any  technical  legality, 
they  framed  a  constitution,  elected  legislators,  organized  courts, 
imposed  and  collected  taxes,  coined  money,  carried  on  war  and 
made  peace  with  the  Indians,  until  1849,  when  Congress  gave  to 
the  precocious  sister  a  Territorial  organization.  The  French  have 
always  claimed  to  be  'the  Great  Nation;'  but  I  think  we  may- 
contest  the  title  with  them. 

A  few  specimens  of  the  early  money,  the  *  beaver  coin/  are  still  in 
existence.  The  little  specie  brought  from  the  States  was  inade 
quate  for  the  business  of  the  young  community ;  and  in  the 
absence  of  money,  wheat  circulated,  a  cumbersome  legal  tender, 
at  one  dollar  per  bushel.  In  this  extremity,  dies  were  prepared 
by  a  blacksmith,  and  the  five-dollar  coin  made  of  gold  dug  from 
the  surrounding  mountains.  It  bore  the  effigy  of  a  beaver,  and 
was  worth  its  face  at  the  United  States  mints. 

At  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia,  Indians  still  exhibit  medals  left 
in  1805  by  Lewis  and  Clark,  on  their  exploring  tour.  It  is 
claimed  that  the  Spaniards  were  the  original  discoverers  of  the 
great  river.  The  first  American  knowledge  of  it  was  through 
Captain  Robe'rt  Gray  of  Boston,  who  entered  the  mouth  of  the 
unknown,  beautiful  stream  in  1792,  and  named  it  from  his  ship, 
Columbia  Rediviva,  the  first  keel  which  had  ever  cut  its  waters. 
He  sailed  up  eighteen  miles ;  and  coming  down,  met  Vancouver 
the  British  explorer,  who  had  ascended  one  hundred  miles  from 
the  mouth  to  the  present  town  bearing  his  name. 

Then  as  now,  the  mouth  of  the  stream  was  the  terror  of  navi 
gators.  Gray  was  nine  days  in  crossing  its  dangerous  bar.  In 
1811,  the  Tonquin,  one  of  John  Jacob  Astor's  fur  ships  com 
manded  by  Captain  Thorn,  lost  eight  men  endeavoring  to  pass 
the  bar  in  boats,  to  reach  the  site  they  had  selected  for  Astoria. 


1865.]       TERRIBLE    REVENGE    ON    THE    SAVAGES.  409 

Afterward,  at  Vancouver  Island,  the  imprudence  of  Thorn 
angered  a  party  of  Indians  who  visited  the  Tonquin  to  sell  furs. 
In  the  ensuing  fierce  conflict,  the  savages  killed  every  man  on 
board  except  Lewis  the  ship's  clerk,  an  Indian  interpreter,  and  five 
sailors  who  hid  in  the  cabin.  After  the  Indians  had  left,  the  four 
men  escaped  to  the  shore ;  but  were  all  caught  and  massacred. 
Lewis  and  the  interpreter  remained  on  the  vessel  and  wreaked  a 
vengeance  worthy  of  classic  ages.  They  decoyed  the  Indians 
back  again,  and  while  the  deck  swarmed  with  savages,  fired  the 
magazine!  The  ship  was  blown  to  atoms;  Lewis  and  more  than 
a  hundred  natives  perished ;  but  the  interpreter  was  thrown  into 
the  water  unhurt — an  almost  miraculous  escape. 

The  earliest  white  settlers  were  the  Hudson  Bay  Company,  and 
Nathaniel  Wyeth's  two  overland  expeditions  from  Massachusetts 
in  1832-3.  The  Indians  still  call  every  American  '  a  Boston,'  and 
all  English  '  King  George's  men.' 

Fort  Vancouver  was  the  British  company's  post.  Every  June 
one  of  their  ships  arrived  with  a  year's  supply  of  goods;  took 
away  the  year's  accumulation  of  wheat  to  Sitka,  selling  it  to  the 
Kussian  government  for  furs ;  carried  the  furs  to  China,  and 
exchanged  them  for  teas  and  silks  ;  transported  these  to  London  •. 
and  then  bringing  another  supply  of  goods  around  the  Horn, 
again  reached  Vancouver  in  June.  Thus  began  the  commerce  of 
our  western  coast  which,  still  in  its  infancy,  whitens  every  sea. 

Pioneers  gave  glowing  accounts  of  the  striking  scenery  of  the 
Kocky  Mountains,  the  beauty  of  Columbia  river,  the  grandeur  of 
the  Sierra  Nevadas  and  the  isolated  peaks  of  the  Northwest ;  but 
they  did  not  attain  wide  celebrity  until  very  lately.  The  warm 
coloring  of  Albert  Bierstadt  found  ample  room  in  the  rich  hues 
of  the  Pacific  coast,  and  his  bold,  free  pencil,  verge  enough  in  the 
stupendous  mountains  of  Colorado,  Yosemite  valley  and  Oregon. 
Many  brother  artists  following  in  his  train,  have  worthily  continued 
the  work  which  he  most  worthily  began.  But  these  regions  are  so 
vast  and  their  scenes  of  wonder  and  beauty  so  many,  that  genera 
tions  must  pass  before  the  American  people  will  have  any  adequate 
conception  of  the  great  features  of  their  own  country. 

The  resources  of  Oregon  are  rich  and  varied.  Its  yield  of  the 
precious  metals  is  already  very  heavy.  The  Santiam  gold  mines, 


410  THE    RICH    RESOURCES    OF    OREGOK.  [1865. 

a  few  miles  from  Salem,  seem  to  equal  even  the  rich  lodes  of 
Idaho.  Abundant  deposits  of  iron  are  found  within  fifteen  miles 
of  Portland.  Some  specimens  assay  sixty  per  cent,  pure  metal. 
Wood  and  coal  are  plentiful ;  and  doubtless  works  will  soon  be 
erected  for  the  reduction  of  the  ore.  The  Pacific  coast  uses  seventy 
tons  of  iron  daily ;  but  imports  it  all  from  the  Atlantic  coast,  save 
the  supply  for  Vancouver  Island  which  comes  from  Scotland. 
There  are  ten  large  foundries  in  San  Francisco  and  one  in  Portland, 
which  turn  out  every  machine,  from  apothecaries'  mortars  of  one 
stamp,  to  quartz  mills  of  a  hundred  stamps  (the  mortar  upon  a 
large  scale,  its  huge  pestles  pounding  by  steam,)  from  the  hand 
pump  to  the  first-class  locomotive. 

In  addition  to  iron  and  gold, 
the  State  produces  silver,  copper, 
lead  and  marble;  and  exports 
wool,  lumber,  fish  and  fruit. 
Sheep-raising  is  the  most  lucra 
tive  pursuit.  The  lumber  re 
sources  are  varied  and  boundless. 
Eedwood — a  species  of  cedar, 
often  twelve  feet  in  diameter — 
makes  the  best  boards,  which,  in 
seasoning,  shrink  only  lengthwise. 

ALBEUT  MEKSTADT.  The  water-power  is  unsurpassed 

in  the  world.     The  apple  grows 

in  profusion.  Essentially  a  northern  fruit,  its  flavor  here  is  far 
more  pungent  than  in  California.  Oregon  cider  is  famous  on  the 
entire  Pacific  slope,  and  much  is  shipped  around  the  Horn,  to 
New  York  and  Boston.  Champagne  is  a  great  beverage  of  the 
west  coast;  but  Mr.  Colfax,  a  total  abstinent  from  boyhood  and 
an  old  worker  in  the  temperance  cause,  would  indulge  in  nothing 
more  ardent  than  native  cider.  His  long  Washington  career  had 
not  even  familiarized  him  with  the  taste  of  wine.  One  evening  in 
a  San  Francisco  drawing-room,  he  was  conversing  earnestly  with 
a  gentleman  beside  him,  when  our  host  carefully  removed  the  paper 
from  a  bottle  of  sparkling  Moselle  and  neatly  substituted  the  label: 
1  Oregon  Cider.'  Then  opening  the  bottle  with  considerable  dis 
play,  he  poured  a  full  goblet  and  invited  the  speaker  to  partake 


1865.]  A    LITTLE    MORE    OREGON    CIDER.  411 

of  his  favorite  beverage.  Mr.  Colfax  sipped  it  with  evident  relish 
during  his  colloquy ;  and  at  last  discovering  that  it  was  all  gone, 
asked : 

'Mr.  M.  will  you  give  me  another  glass  of  that  Oregon  cider? 
Its  flavor  is  excellent.' 

Grapes,  peaches,  plums,  nectarines,  apricots  and  strawberries 
grow  in  the  Oregon  valleys.  Fruit  trees,  two  years  old,  are  twice 
as  large  as  in  New  York  and  Ohio ;  and  the  average  yield  of 
wheat  to  the  acre  is  fifty  per  cent,  greater.  Not  more  than  one- 
tenth  of  the  rich  Wallamet  valley  is  yet  under  cultivation.  The 
best  improved  lands  command  eight  to  sixteen  dollars  per  acre ; 
unimproved,  one  dollar  and  twenty  cents  to  five  dollars. 

One  of  the  earliest  newspapers  in  Oregon  was  printed  from 
wooden  types  cut  out  by  hand.  The  State  has  now  three  dailies. 
The  Oregonian,  the  oldest  journal,  is  edited  by  a  gentleman  who 
graduated  at  the  Oregon  University.  It  is  full  of  suggestiveness  to 
remember  that  a  generation  has  matured  on  this  far-off  coast — to  find 
leaders  of  public  opinion  born,  reared  and  educated  on  the  soil — 
to  hear  young  men  and  women  who  have  resided  from  infancy  in 
what  nine-tenths  of  our  people  regard  a  wilderness,  discuss  appre 
ciatively  and  critically  Emerson  and  Herbert  Spencer,  Thackeray 
and  Tennyson,  Whittier  and  Gail  Hamilton. 

Some  Californians  grow  satirical  upon  their  *  Web-foot '  neigh 
bors,  jesting  at  their  lack  of  enterprise,  and  averring  that  the  wet 
climate  has  made  them  aquatic.  The  Oregonians  retort  that  if 
slow,  they  are  solvent ;  that  it  is  better  to  be  cautious  than  to  go 
beyond  one's  means.  Dr.  Bellows  noted  the  use  of  brown  sugar  in 
their  tea.  They  pithily  replied  that  their  sugar  was  paid  for,  and 
that  he  could  not  accuse  them,  as  he  did  the  Californians,  of  bor 
rowing  money  at  three  per  cent,  a  month  to  buy  champagne  with! 

At  one  stage  station  in  a  beautiful  valley,  I  encountered  two 
girls  of  sixteen  and  eighteen,  with  comely  faces  and  neat  attire. 
I  asked  one  when  her  parents  came  to  Oregon  ?  She  replied  that 
it  was  before  she  could  remember.  What  State  did  they  come 
from  ?  She  had  forgotten  that  also,  if  she  ever  knew ;  and  her 
sister  was  equally  ignorant.  They  probably  hailed  from  Missouri, 
and  were  by  no  means  fair  specimens  of  Oregon  intelligence. 

Leaving  Portland,  we  steamed  down  the  clear  Wallamet  for 


412  FORESTS    OF    WASHINGTON    TERRITORY.       [1865. 

twelve  miles;  down  the  blue  Columbia  for  thirty-eight;  up  the 
muddy  Cowlitz  for  two ;  and  landed  at  Monticello  in  Washington 
Territory.  Thence  to  Olympia,  ninety  miles,  an  open  stage-wagon 
carried  us  over  the  worst  roads  and  among  the  grandest  woods  in 
the  world.  It  also  demonstrated  how  fifteen  passengers  can  be 
transported  in  a  vehicle  which  holds  only  nine — viz. :  by  putting 
six  of  them  on  horseback. 

This  is  the  forest  primeval ;  thick  with  slender  fir,  pine,  hemlock, 
spruce,  cedar  and  arbor  vitae;  the  trunks  gloved  in  moss  of  orange 
green,  and  branches  tufted  with  long,  swaying,  hair-like  strands  of 
brown  Spanish  moss ;  the  ground  white,  yellow  and  purple  with 
luxuriant  flowers.  We  passed  one  or  two  rough  villages ;  and 
farm-houses  five  or  ten  miles  apart,  in  little  grassy  openings — 
islands  of  prairie  in  the  vast,  somber,  silent  sea  of  woods.  Thou 
sands  of  firs  not  more  than  eighteen  inches  in  diameter  at  the  base, 
yet  rise  like  masts  two  hundred  and  fifty  feet.  Judge  Hewet  cut 
one  upon  his  own  farm  which  measured  three  hundred  and  twenty- 
five  feet  in  length.  For  miles  the  telegraph  wire  is  supported  by 
trees  alone,  and  not  a  pole  is  seen. 

On  the  second  evening  we  passed  through  the  picturesque  little 
manufacturing  hamlet  of  Tumwater,  (falling  water,)  and  half  an 
hour  later  our  wagon  ride  of  two  days  ended  at  Olympia. 

The,  Indians  of  Washington  are  fish-eating  tribes,  with  little 
intelligence,  though  the  patient  efforts  of  missionaries — especially 
Jesuits — have  shown  them  capable  of  great  improvement.  They 
often  gather  on  the  shore  of  the  beautiful  sound,  beside  some 
quiet  cove  and  hard  by  the  dwelling  of  a  pioneer,  in  their  favorite 
pursuit  of  gambling.  They  sit  in  groups,  intently  pursuing  their 
Mamook-to-lo — literally:  ;to  make,  to  bet;'  but  their  general  term 
for  gambling  of  every  description. 

They  have  no  objection  to  winning  from  each  other,  though 
they  commonly  select  a  champion  to  play  against  the  representa 
tive  of  some  neighboring  tribe.  Then  comes  their  Derby-day. 
They  often  bet  every  article  they  possess — money,  guns,  blankets, 
and  even  the  shirts  upon  their  backs — when  the  loser  goes 
sadly  home  in  a  state  of  nature,  as  wild  in  woods  the  noble  savage 
ran.  They  call  the  game  sla-hal.  Each  player  alternately  shuffles 
ten  wooden  disks.  Then  his  adversary  must  guess  which  hand 


1865.] 


A    STRANGE    FOREST    VILLAGE. 


413 


contains  the  one  disk  that  is  specially  marked.  Naming  the  right 
one,  he  wins  a  disk ;  if  the  wrong  one,  he  loses.  The  one  first 
gaining  the  whole  ten,  wins  the  game. 

Washington   Territory  with  twenty  thousand  people,   has  no 
daily  newspaper.     Olympia,  the  seat  of   government  at  the  most 


i 


MOUNT   RAINIER,    FROM   PUGET   SOUND. 

southern  elbow  of  Puget  sound,  contains  six  hundred  people  in 
winterr  and  perhaps  half  as  many  in  summer.  It  is  a  settlement 
sui  generis,  struggling  hard  against  primeval  Nature  and  Aborig 
inal  mam.  Thus  far  the  advantage  is  rather  with  the  forest  and 
the  Indian  ;•  but  Civilization  is  treading  sharply  on  the  heels  of 
Barbarism*  and  jostling  it  rudely  aside. 

It  is  a  quaint  village  among  logs  and  stumps,  and  traversed  by 

plank  sidewalks  ejected  upon  stilts  to  avoid  mud  and  deluge. 

The   arterial   street   begins   on    the   level   shore   of  the   smooth 

shining  sound,  climbs- &  low  muddy  hill,  and  plunges  out  of  sight 

27 


414  THE    AMERICA    OF    THE    FUTURE.  [1865. 

in  the  deep  pine  woods.  The  capitol  is  a  lonely  white  frame 
building,  like  a  warehouse  ;  but  we  found  the  national  flag  floating 
from  it,  and  from  nearly  all  the  little  neat  cottages  which  consti 
tute  the  better  dwellings. 

Acting-Governor  Elwood  Evans,  with  other  leading  citizens, 
received  Mr.  Colfax ;  and  the  rude  throat  of  an  old  field-piece  did 
hoarsely  counterfeit  the  dread  thunders  of  immortal  Jove  to  give 
him  welcome. 

Olympia  boasts  two  hotels.  Quarters  were  assigned  us  at  the 
Pacific,  kept  by  a  peculiarly  intelligent  negro  woman.  Her  hus 
band  managed  the  kitchen ;  but  she  superintended  the  establish 
ment,  conducted  its  finances,  and  put  money  in  the  family  purse. 

In  the  evening  I  strolled  through  the  streets,  among  Aborigi 
nes  and  whites.  From  great  piles  of  lumber  on  the  long  wharf, 
I  saw  four  Indian  women  embark  in  a  light  canoe,  weighing 
it  down  to  the  water's  edge,  and  paddle  away,  gliding  noiselessly 
over  the  unbroken  wave  which  reflected  the  violet  and  gold  of 
the  twilight  skies.  At  last  their  weird  forms  and  stolid  faces  were 
hidden  by  the  deep  shadows  of  the  opposite  shore.  What  can  life 
mean  to  them  ?  What  are  their  joys  and  sorrows,  their  fears, 
hopes  and  ambitions  ? 

After  dark,  nearly  the  entire  population — men,  women,  children 
and  Indians — were  addressed  by  Messrs.  Colfax  and  Bross.  I 
never  realized  the  magnitude  of  our  Union,  until  in  this  remotest 
wilderness,  forty-four  hundred  miles  from  home,  I  found  not  only 
the  same  language,  and  the  same  currency;  but  the  same  flag,  and, 
vibrating  from  every  extremity  of  the  vast  continent,  the  sarno 
hopes,  sympathies  and  undying  memories.  And  when  at  this 
strange  gathering  in  the  primeval  forest  I  saw  many  eyes  grow 
wet  at  mention  of  our  martyred  President,  and  heard  every  voice 
thrill  in  cheers  for  our  redeemed  republic,  my  heart  swelled  with 
pride  and  hope  for  the  swarming,  potential  America  of  the  future. 
May  its  name  be  omnipotent  to  the  weary  and  troubled  of  every 
zone !  May  its  flag  betoken  to  the  nations,  Stability  and  Progress, 
Liberty  and  Law,  Opportunity  for  the  lowliest,  and  Justice  pure 
and  exact  unto  all  men ! 

From  Olympia  we  took  a  steamer  upon  Puget  sound,  the 
loveliest  body  of  water  in  the  western  hemisphere.  Hundreds  of 


1865.]     BEAUTIFUL    SCENERY    OF    PUGET    SOUND.  415 

islands  dot  the  shining  surface,  while  its  clear  depths  are  almost  as 
transparent  as  air.  Spreading  in  a  great  complicated  net- work  of 
arms,  straits  and  inlets,  it  has  fourteen  hundred  miles  of  navigation, 
and  affords  to  Washington  more  harbors  than  are  possessed  by 
any  other  region  of  equal  area  in  the  world.  It  is  surrounded  by 
a  vast  wilderness.  Indeed  Washington  is  the  lumber-man's  para 
dise — not  because  it  is  a  Future  State  but  from  its  unequaled 
forests. 

The  lumber-trade  of  Puget  sound  exceeds  a  million  dollars 
annually.  Every  town  upon  the  coast  contains  immense  saw-mills. 
We  glanced  through  one,  upward  of  three  hundred  feet  long, 
which  turns  out  over  a  hundred  thousand  feet  daily.  Spars  and 
other  ship  timbers,  superior  to  those  of  any  foreign  country,  are 
furnished  to  the  entire  Pacific  coast,  the  Sandwich  Islands,  Japan, 
China,  Australia,  England  and  France.  The  Puget  sound  fir 
has  superseded 

'  The  tallest  pine 

Hewn  on  Norwegian  hills  to  be  the  mast 
Of  some  great  Admiral.' 

The  fish  interests  of  the  sound  and  its  heavy  coal  trade  from 
Bellingham  Bay,  added  to  its  lumber  resources,  make  it  the  most 
important  possession  of  the  North  Pacific. 

Nearly  all  day  we  were  in  sight  of  Mount  Eainier,  triple- 
pointed  and  robed  in  snow.  Baker,  Adams  and  St.  Helen's  are 
all  striking.  Shasta  is  grand,  Hood  is  grander ;  but  from  this 
stand-point,  Kainier,  whose  summit  has  never  been  trodden  by 
man,  is  monarch  of  all,  the  Mont  Blanc  of  the  Pacific  coast. 

The  author  of  *  the  Seasons '  was  indignant  at  the  thought  that 
one  could  write  an  epic  poem  who  had  never  seen  a  mountain. 
These  grand  peaks  tell  at  a  glance  why  the  ancients  placed  the 
abode  of  the  immortal  gods  on  the  snow-crowned  mountains  of 
Thessaly.  Indeed  one  is  fittingly  named  Olympus. 

Our  boat  touched  at  Steilacoom,  Port  Ludlow,  Seattle,  Port 
Angelos  and  Port  Gamble.  The  last-named  gave  one  hundred 
and  thirty-eight  votes  for  Lincoln  and  not  one  for  McClellan ;  and 
during  the  war  contributed  more  proportionately  to  the  Sanitary 
Commission  than  any  other  town  in  the  Union. 


416  UNDER    THE    BRITISH    FLAG.  [1865. 

At  the  north  end  of  Puget  sound,  we  crossed  the  Straits  of  Fuca, 
named  from  Juan  de  Fuca,  the  first  white  man  who  ever  saw 
Washington  Territory.  Though  of  Greek  birth,  he  was  sent  in 
1792,  in  charge  of  a  Spanish  vessel,  to  fortify  a  supposititious 
strait,  lest  the  English  should  pass  through  it,  from  the  Atlantic 
to  the  Pacific !  The  geography  of  his  day  was  a  good  deal  con 
fused.  Northwest  America  is  the  home  of  old  romance.  Here 
ingenious  scholars  place  the  Atlantis  of  Bacon.  Here  that  great 
est  of  navigators  and  explorers — Captain  Lemuel  Gulliver — dis 
covered  the  kingdom  of  Brobdingnag. 

We  landed  at  Victoria,  Vancouver  Island,  a  little  metropolis 
whose  rise  and  growth  are  wholly  due  to  the  traffic  of  the  Frasier 
river  gold-mines.  Originally  it  was  the  depot  of  the  Hudson  Bay 
Company. 

Now  we  were  under  the  British  flag ;  but  the  Stars  and  Stripes 
waved  in  every  street,  in  honor  of  the  speaker.  The  Ameri 
can  residents  led  by  the  United  States  consul  '  received '  him ;  and 
then  the  mayor  and  city  council  presented  a  welcoming  address, 
inscribed  on  parchment,  conveying  national  congratulations  and 
personal  compliments,  and  with  a  very  English  eye  to  business, 
soliciting  his  influence  for  relaxation  of  the  navigation  laws,  which 
fetter  commerce  with  the  United  States. 

Victoria  is  well  built  of  brick  and  stone,  with  a  population  of 
five  thousand.  It  is  peopled  by  English,  Americans,  Chinese 
and  Indians.  Yankees  who  have  resided  here  but  five  or  six 
years,  have  quite  lost  the  cadaverous,  eager  American  physiog 
nomy,  and  exhibit  that  full,  florid  face  which  is  the  English  type 
the  world  over.  They  look  like  born  Britons.  Is  it  the  result  of 
half-and-half,  climate,  association  or  accident  ? 

The  Indians  wear  the  garb  of  civilization.  Some  of  their 
women  on  the  streets  even  display  crinoline,  and  'water-falls.' 
Many  have  very  noticeable  features.  Seattle,  from  whom  a  town 
on  the  sound  is  named,  is  a  stolid  old  patriarch  who  claims  to  re 
member  the  visit  of  Vancouver  seventy-five  years  ago.  '  King 
Freezy '  and  *  Queen  Freezy  '  are  dull  and  stolid  specimens  of 
Aboriginal  royalty.  « Lightning,'  a  savage  belle,  would  create  a 
sensation  in  a  civilized  ball-room. 

If  any  one  doubts  that  the  world  is  governed  too  much,  let  him 


1865.] 


FEATURES  OF  VANCOUVER  ISLAND. 


417 


study  the  parliament  of  this  little  island,  which  sits  ten  months  in 
the  year  I  The  fifteen  members  of  the  lower  house  are  all  elective. 
Of  the  seven  members  composing  the  upper,  three  are  named  by 
the  crown,  and  four,  including  the  colonial  secretary,  treasurer  and 
chief  j ustice,  are  ex  officio  members.  In  endurance,  and  doubtless 
in  dignity,  the  body  surpasses  the  British  Parliament  and  the 
Congress  of  the  United  States. 

It  is  characteristic,  that 
while  New  York  with  four 
millions  of  people,  pays 
her  governor  four  thou 
sand  dollars  a  year,  the 
executive  of  this  island, 
whose  population  is  only 
seven  thousand,  receives 
fifteen  thousand  dollars 
per  annum.  The  English 
do  these  things  better  than 
we. 

Sir  James  Douglas,  the 
former  governor,  married 
an  educated  half-breed 
lady,  and  his  children 
have  strong  Indian  features.  In  July,  in  his  ample  garden  bloomed 
many  varieties  of  rose,  dahlia,  pink,  nasturtium,  verbena,  Califor 
nia  poppy  and  other  delicate  flowers,  with  ripe  currants  and  cher 
ries  of  capital  flavor. 

That  evening  the  American  residents  gave  a  banquet  to  Mr. 
Colfax,  attended  by  one  hundred  and  fifty  guests,  including  the 
governor  and  other  English  officials  and  citizens.  British,  French, 
Irish,  and  American  flags  festooned  the  hall.  After  three  hours 
of  eating  the  speaking  began,  and  lasted  for  five  mortal  hours 
longer.  The  etiquette  was  entirely  English,  differing  somewhat 
from  ours.  Her  Majesty  is  never  cheered  nor  the  toast  in  her 
honor  responded-  to  by  a  speech.  The  president  gives:  'The 
Queen ;'  the  vice-president  replies :  *  God  bless  her !'  and  her  health 
is  drank  standing,  in  silence.  When  any  profession — the  bar,  for 
example — is  toasted,  all  its  members  rise  and  stand  till  the 


'LIGHTNING,'  AN  INDIAN  BELLE. 


418     AMERICAN  RHETORIC  AMONG  THE   BRITONS.    [1865. 

responses  are  ended.  Speakers  address  both  ends  of  the  table : 
4  Mr.  President,  Mr.  Yice-president  and  Gentlemen.' 

Of  course  the  English  speeches  were  conversational — couched  in 
the  language  of  plain,  every-day  talk — though  direct,  pointed  and 
sensible.  And  of  course  the  Americans  plunged  into  the  pro- 
foundest  abyss  of  rhetoric,  and  soared  to  the  empyrean  of  declama 
tion.  Once  or  twice  they  ran  into  the  ludicrously  bombastic ; 
but  they  amazed  and  delighted  the  British  auditors — like  the  rest, 
a  little  the  better  for  liquor — who  applauded  to  the  echo. 

In  wine  is  friendliness  if  not  truth.  We  had  not  only  the  inev 
itable  staple  of  such  occasions,  about  Shakspeare,  and  Milton,  a 
common  language  and  a  common  lineage ;  but  a  leading  British 
official  even  predicted  that  at  some  future  day  the  two  nations 
would  be  one ! — a  remark  which  was  rapturously  cheered. 

'  Nothing  succeeds  like  success.'  There  was  much  Southern 
sympathy  on  the  island ;  now  all  are  our  dear  friends,  our  affec 
tionate  cousins,  our  admiring  brethren.  Johnny  Eeb.  has  proved 
a  bad  failure ;  and  Johnny  Bull,  who  began  by  embracing  him, 
ends  with  a  parting  kick. 

From  Victoria  we  returned  to  San  Francisco  by  ocean  steamer : 
seven  hundred  and  forty  miles ;  three  days ;  forty-five  dollars.  We 
were  usually  in  sight  of  land,  and  passed  near  the  mouth  of  Columbia 
river,  five  miles  wide  and  obstructed  by  the  worst  bar  in  the  world. 
There  is  not  a  single  good  harbor  between  Yictoria  and  San  Francisco. 

We  threaded  St.  George's  Reef — a  series  of  dangerous  rocks  near 
the  land ;  some  rising  two  or  three  hundred  feet,  others  entirely 
under  water.  Here  we  hoped  to  meet  the  Brother  Jonathan,  with 
papers  from  San  Francisco  only  twenty-four  hours  old.  The  swell 
was  very  high,  and  our  captain's  face  wrinkled  with  anxiety  until 
the  perilous  point  was  passed.  Meanwhile  we  were  discussing  the 
chances  for  life  one  would  have,  shipwrecked  in  that  heavy  sea. 

We  missed  the  Brother  Jonathan;  but  two  hours  after  we 
passed  the  reef  she  reached  it,  struck  a  rock,  and  in  forty -five 
minutes  went  to  the  bottom.  Of  her  passengers  and  crew  only 
sixteen  were  saved.  One  hundred  and  fifty,  with  their  human 
hopes  and  fears,  their  loves  arid  longings  and  ambitions,  were 
engulfed  in  that  repository  which  keeps  all  its  treasures  and  all  its 
secrets  till  the  sea  shall  give  up  its  dead.  Of  the  six  small  boats, 


1865.] 


FATE  OF  THE  BROTHER  JONATHAN. 


419 


five  were  swamped  in  launching;  one  reached  the  shore,  full  of 
passengers.  After  the  ship  struck,  James  Nisbet,  editor  of  the  San 
Francisco  Bulletin,  found  time  and  coolness  to  write  his  will. 


GOVERNMENT   STREET,    VICTORIA,    VANCOUVER   ISLAND. 

There  must  be  a  best  way  of  launching  boats  under  such  cir 
cumstances.  There  must  be  possible  machinery  to  facilitate  it. 
There  must  be  some  way  for  a  man  with  ISTisbet's  nerve  and  calm 
ness  to  save  himself,  if  he  only  knew  it. 

Marine  disasters  are  far  more  frequent  and  appalling  on  our 
coasts  than  in  any  other  quarter  of  the  globe.  They  spring  largely 
from  our  national  recklessness ;  and  illustrate  the  ever- recurring 
anomaly,  that  here,  where  human  nature  finds  its  most  generous 
opportunities,  human  life  is  less  prized  than  in  any  other  civilized 
nation.  Our  whole  system  of  travel  by  river  and  sea  is  shamefully 
hazardous.  Our  best  ocean  steamers  are  without  boats  enough  to 
hold  all  their  passengers,  even  in  smooth  waters.  And  when  an 
inspection  is  to  take  place,  owners  and  officers  often  know  it  in 
season  to  borrow  hose,  boats,  and  other  needful  articles  of  outfit. 
The  slaughter  will  never  cease  till  proprietors  and  managers  are 
held  to  strict  responsibility.  Convict  and  punish  them  for  homi 
cide  whenever  it  occurs  through  their  penuriousness,  heedlessness, 
or  neglect  of  precautions  which  law  and  humanity  require. 


420  DISCOVERY    OF    YOSEMITE    VALLEY.  [1865. 


CHAPTER    XXXV. 

SEE  Yosemite  and  die !  I  shall  not  attempt  to  describe  it ;  the 
subject  is  too  large  and  ray  capacity  too  small.  Here  might  the 
author  of  the  'Divine  Comedy,'  whose  troubled  brow  and  yearning 
eyes  appeal  to  us  through  the  shadows  of  five  centuries,  despair 
ingly  repeat:  'I  may  not  paint  them  all  in  full,  for  the  long  theme 
so  chases  me  that  many  times  the  word  comes  short  of  the  reality.' 

Yosemite  should  be  studied  for  months ;  I  saw  it  but  five  days. 
Volumes  ought  to  be  and  will  be  written  about  it ;  I  can  only 
group  a  few  hints  and  impressions. 

Yosemite — signifying  grizzly-bear — was  the  name  of  a  tribe  of 
Indians.  In  1851  they  were  hostile.  The  whites  pursuing  them 
into  their  home  and  stronghold,  discovered  this  crowning  wonder 
of  the  world.  Finding  in  one  lodge  a  very  aged  squaw,  they  asked 
how  old  she  was.  The  Indians  replied  that  when  she  was  a  girl 
these  mountains  were  hills!  To  appreciate  the  statement  one 
should  see  the  mountains. 

Our  party  of  seventeen — the  largest  which  ever  entered  the  val 
ley — included  my  companions  of  the  overland  trip;  and  among 
other  friends,  Fred.  Mac  Crellish  of  the  Alta  California,  William 
Ashburner  of  the  California  Geological  Survey,  Frederick  Law 
01  msted,  and  Charles  Allen,  attorney  general  of  the  State  of  Mas 
sachusetts. 

On  the  seventh  of  August,  after  four  days'  hard  travel  from  San 
Francisco,  we  galloped  out  of  the  pine  woods,  dismounted,  stood 
upon  the  rocky  precipice  of  Inspiration  Point,  and  looked  down 
into  Yosemite  as  one  from  a  house-top  looks  down  into  his  garden, 
or  as  he  would  view  the  interior  of  some  stupendous  roofless  ca 
thedral,  from  the  top  of  one  of  its  towering  walls.  In  the  distance. 


1865.] 


VIEW    FROM    INSPIRATION    POINT. 


421 


across  the  gorge,  were  snow-streaked  mountains.     Eight  under  us 
was  the  narrow,  winding  basin  of  meadow,   grove  and  shining  f 
river,  shut  in  by  granite  walls  from  two  thousand  to  five  thousand  x 
feet  high — walls  with  immense  turrets  of  bare  rock — walls  so 
upright  and  perfect  that  an  expert  crag-man  can  climb  out  of  the 
valley  at  only  three  or  four  points. 

Flinging  a  pebble  from  the  rock  upon  which  we  stood,  and 
looking  over  the 
brink,  I  saw  it  fall 
more  than  half  a 
mile  before  strik 
ing.  Glancing 
across  the  narrow, 
profound  chasm,  I 
surveyed  an  un 
broken,  seamless 
wall  of  granite, 
two-thirds  of  a 
mile  high,  and 
more,  than  perpen 
dicular — the  top 
projecting  one 
hundred  and  fifty 
feet  over  the  base. 
Turning  toward 
the  upper  end  of 
the  valley,  I  be 
held  a  half-dome 
of  rock,  one  mile 
high,  and  on  its 
summit  a  solitary, 
gigantic  cedar,  appearing  like  the  merest  twig.  Originally  a  vast 
granite  mountain,  it  was  riven  from  top  to  bottom  by  some  ancient 
convulsion,  which  cleft  asunder  the  everlasting  hills  and  rent  the 
great  globe  itself. 

The  measureless,  inclosing  walls,  with  these  leading  towers  and 
many  other  turrets — gray,  brown  and  white  rock,  darkly  veined 
from  summit  to  base  with  streaks  and  ribbons  of  falling  water — 


GOING  INTO  YOSEM1TE   VALLEY. 


422  BIDING    DOWN    THE    ZIGZAGS.  [1865. 

hills,  almost  upright,  yet  studded  with  tenacious  firs  and  cedars; 
and  the  deep-down  level  floor  of  grass,  with  its  thread  of  river 
and  pigmy  trees,  all  burst  upon  me  at  once.  Nature  had  lifted 
her  curtain  to  reveal  the  vast  and  the  infinite.  It  elicited  no 
adjectives,  no  exclamations.  With  bewildering  sense  of  divine 
power  and  human  littleness,  I  could  only  gaze  in  silence,  till  the 
view  strained  my  brain  and  pained  my  eyes,  compelling  me  to 
turn  away  and  rest  from  its  oppressive  magnitude. 

Eiding  for  two  hours,  down,  down,  among  sharp  rocks  and 
dizzy  zigzags,  where  the  five  ladies  of  our  party  found  it  diffi 
cult  to  keep  in  their  saddles,  and  narrowly  escaped  pitching  over 
their  horses'  heads,  we  were  in  the  valley,  entering  by  the  Mari- 
posa  trail.  The  diagram  shows  its  form  and  features.  The  length 
of  the  valley  or  cleft  is  nine  miles ;  its  average  width  three-fourths 
of  a  mile.  The  following  dimensions  are  in  feet : 

Average  width  of  Merced  river, 60 

Hight  of  Yosemite  falls.     (Upper,  1,600:  Rapids,  434;  Lower,  600,).  .2,634 

Width  of  these  falls  at  upper  summit,  in  August, 15 

Hight  of  Bridal  Vail  fall, 940 

Hight  of  South  Fork  fall, 740 

Hight  of  Vernal  fall, 330 

Hight  of  Nevada  fall, 700 

Width  of  Vernal  and  Nevada,  at  summits, 40 

Hight  of  El  Capitan  rock, 3.900 

Hight  of  Three  Brothers  rock  (three  turrets,) 3,437 

Hight  of  North  Dome  rock, 3,720 

Hight  of  Inspiration  Point  rock, 3,000 

Hight  of  Cathedral  rocks  (two  turrets,) ! 3,000 

Hight  of  Sentinel  rock, 3,270 

Hight  of  Mount  Colfax, 3,400 

Hight  of  Mount  Starr  King, 4,500 

Hight  of  South  Dome  rock, 6,000 

Eiding  up  the  valley  for  five  miles,  past  Bridal  Yail  fall,  (on 
the  brook  entering  the  Merced  from  the  south,  above  Inspiration 
Point,)  Cathedral  rocks  and  the  Sentinel,  we  dismounted  and  es 
tablished  our  headquarters  at  Hutchings'.  This  is  a  two-story 
frame  house,  with  interior  walls  of  'soft  finish,'  a  local  term,  in 
contra-disti notion  to  plastering  of  'hard  finish'  and  signifying 
only  curtains  of  white  muslin  for  partitions.  They  compel  guests 
who  don't  wish  to  give  magic-lantern  exhibitions  to  extinguish 


1865.] 


HTJTCHINGS    AND    HIS    HOUSEHOLD. 


423 


their  candles  before  disrobing;  but  afford  rarest  facilities  for  general 
conversation  after  every  one  has  gone  to  bed. 

Hatchings  and  his  family  regaled  us  on  the  fat  of  the  land  and 
the  fruit  of  the  water — sweet  milk  and  savory  trout.  In  winter 
the  sun  rises  upon  them  at 
one  o'clock  P.  M.,  and  sets 
two  hours  later. «  Then  they 
receive  mails  and  news 
from  the  outside  world  once  a 
week,  through  adventurous  In 
dians,  who  cross  the  dangerous 
mountain  snows,  twenty^  feet 
deep,  to  Coulterville  or  Mari- 
posa. 

Hutchings  is  landlord  and 
author ;  his  illustrated  '  Scenes 
of  Wonder  and  Curiosity  in 
California '  is  a  creditable  and 
valuable  work.  A  friend,  vis 
iting  here  for  the  first  time, 
found  his  wife  upon  the  river- 
bank,  with  one  hand  vigor 
ously  turning  the  crank  of  a 
patent  washing-machine,  and 
with  the  other  holding  the 
latest  Atlantic  -Monthly,  ab 
sorbed  in  one  of  its  articles. 
Only  Indian  labor  is  attainable. 
If  eastern  ladies  who  suffer 
constant  martyrdom  in  respect 

of  '  help,'  were  compelled  to  live  on  the  Pacific  coast  a  few  months 
and  employ  Chinamen  and  Indians  in  lieu  of  servant  girls,  they 
would  learn  who  is  well  off. 

In  front  of  Hutchings'  runs  the  Merced,  fresh  from  the  Sierras. 
Delightful  and  exhilarating,  though  a  little  chilly  for  the  swim 
mer,  it  is  so  perfectly  transparent  as  to  cheat  the  eye,  and  beguile 
beyond  his  depth  any  one  attempting  to  wade  it.  Crossing  it  by 
a  rustic  log  bridge,  we  are  in  a  smooth,  level  meadow  of  tall  grass, 


DIAGRAM   OP    YOSEMITE   VALLEY. 


424 


TREES    AND    WALLS    OF    THE    VALLEY. 


[1865. 


variegated  with  myriads  of  wild  flowers,  including  primroses  of 
yellow  and  crimson,  and  a  lily -shaped  blossom  of  exquisite  purple, 
known  as  the  Ithuriel  spear. 

The  meadow  is  fringed  with  groves  of  pines  and  spreading  oak, 

and  on  one  side  bounded  by  the 
everlasting  walls.  The  pines,  like 
those  of  Washington  Territory, 
are  simply  bight,  slenderness, 
symmetry.  The  delicate  tracery 
of  the  branch  is  beautiful  beyond 
description ;  but  the  trunk  is  com' 
paratively  small.  I  procured  a 
photograph  of  two,  wonderfully 
regular  and  graceful,  and  more 
than  two  hundred  feet  high,  which 
dwarfed  to  a  child's  block-house  a 
large  frame-dwelling  at  their  feet. 
In  the  eveniflg,  illuminated  and 
softened  by  the  full  moon,  the 
beauty  of  the  valley  was  marvel 
ous.  The  bright  lights  of  the 
distant  house  shone  through  the 
deep  pines,  and  the  river's  low 
gurgling  faintly  disturbed  the  air. 
At  times  immense  bowlders, 
breaking  from  the  summits,  rolled  down 
thundering,  and  filling  the  valley  with 
their  loud  reverberations. 

The    rock    mountains    are   the  great 
feature ;  indeed  they  are  Yosemite.     The 

EL  CAPITAX.  3900  FEET  HIGH.     nine  granite  walls  which  range  in  altitude 
from  three  to  six  thousand  feet,  are  the 
most  striking  examples  on  the  globe  of  the  masonry  of  Nature. 

Their  dimensions  are  so  vast  that  they  utterly  outrun  our  ordi 
nary  standards  of  comparison.  One  might  as  well  be  told  of  a 
wall,  upright  like  the  side  of  a  house  for  ten  thousand  miles,  as 
for  two-thirds  of  one  mile.  When  we  speak  of  a  giant  twenty -five 
feet  high,  it  conveys  some  definite  impression ;  but  to  tell  of  one 


1865.]   YOSEMITE   FALL,— HIGHEST  IN  THE   WORLD.  425 

three  thousand  feet  high,  would 
only  bewilder,  and  convey  no 
meaning  whatever.  So,  at  first, 
these  stupendous  walls  painfully 
confuse  the  mind.  By  degrees, 
day  after  day,  the  sight  of  them 
clears  it,  until,  at  last,  one  re 
ceives  a  just  impression  of  their 
solemn  immensity. 

Cathedral  rocks  have  two  tur 
rets,  and  look  like  some  Titanic 
religious  pile.     Sentinel   towers 
alone,    grand   and   hoary.     The 
South  Dome,  a  mile  high,  is  really 
a  semi-dome.     Cleft  from  top  to 
bottom,  one-half  of  it  went  on 
the  other  side  of  the  chasm  and 
disappeared,    when     the     great 
mountains  were  rent  in   twain. 
The  gigantic  North  Dome  is  as 
round  and  perfect  as  the  cupola 
of  the  national  capitol.     Three 
Brothers  is   a  triple- 
pointed  mass  of  solid 
granite.      All     these 
rocks,   and  scores  of 
lesser     ones      which 
would    be   noticeable 
anywhere  else  in  the 
world,   exhibit   vege 
tation.    Hardy  cedars, 
thrusting    roots    into 
imperceptible  crevices 
of  their  upright  sides 
— apparently  growing 
out  of  unbroken  stone 
— have      braved      a 
thousand    years     the 
battle  and  the  breeze. 


426    EL   CAPITAN;    MOUNT   KING;    MOUNT  COLFAX.    [1865. 

El  Capitan  is  grandest  of  all.  No  tuft  of  beard  shades  or  fringes 
its  closely  shaven  face.  No  tenacious  vine  even  can  fasten  its 
tendrils,  to  climb  that  smooth,  seamless,  stupendous  wall.  There 
it  will  stand,  grandeur,  massiveness,  indestructibility,  till  the 
heavens  shall  pass  away  with  a  great  noise,  and  the  elements  melt 
with  fervent  heat.  Its  Indian  name  is  Tu-toch-ah-nu-lah.  Both 
this  and  the  Spanish  word  signify  '  the  leader;'  but  were  applied 
in  the  sense  of  the  Supreme  Being.  It  ought  to  be  called  Mount 
Abraham  Lincoln. 

One  noble  mountain  most  appropriately  commemorates  Thomas 
Starr  King.  Another,  immediately  in  the  rear  of  Hutchings', 
our  party  found  nameless,  and,  excepting  only  the  speaker  him 
self,  unanimously  voted  to  christen  it  Mount  Colfax.  Whether 
the  name  sticks  or  not,  will  depend  upon  future  writers.  But  I 
am  sure  it  will  be  perpetual,  if  adhered  to  by  all  tourists  and  jour 
nalists  friendly  to  that  orphan  printer-boy  of  not  many  years  ago, 
whose  industry,  talents  and  perfect  integrity  have  won  for  his 
early  manhood  the  third  place  of  civil  trust  and  honor  in  the  gift 
of  the  American  people. 

«  Hutchings'  affords  a  perfect  view  of  Yosemite  falls,  a  mile  dis 
tant.  In  April  and  May,  when  melting  snows  swell  the  stream  to 
a  deep  torrent,  they  are  grand ;  but  then  the  valley  is  half  flooded. 
In  late  summer  their  creek  shrinks  to  a  skeleton ;  and  they  look 
small  because  their  surroundings  are  so  vast.  Niagara  itself 
would  dwarf  beside  the  rocks  in  this  valley. 

Yet  Yosemite  is  the  loftiest  water-fall  in  the  world.  Think  of  a 
cataract,  or  cascade,  of  half  a  mile  with  only  a  single  break  !  It  is 
sixteen  times  higher  than  Niagara.  Twelve  Bunker  Hill  monu 
ments  standing  upright,  one  upon  another,  would  barely  reach  its 
summit.  Ossa  upon  Pelion  becomes  a  tame  and  meaningless  com 
parison. 

We  did  not  climb  to  the  Eapids  and  foot  of  the  Upper  fall; 
that  is  difficult,  hazardous  and  exhausting.  Nor  did  we  go  to  the 
extreme  summit;  that  requires  a  circuitous  ride  of  twenty -five 
miles  out  of  the  valley.  But  we  spent  much  time  at  the  base  of 
the  Lower  fall,  shut  in  by  towering  walls  of  dark  granite.  The 
basin  abounds  in  rocks — some  as  large  as  a  dwelling  house — which 
have  tumbled  down  from  the  top.  Spreading  my  blankets  upon 


1865.]    BRIDAL  VAIL;  VERNAL;   MIRROR  LAKE.        427 

one  of  these,  almost  under  the  fall,  I  found  it  a  smooth  bed,  though 
a  little  damp  from  spray ;  and  spent  the  night  there  to  see  the 
cataract  in  the  varying  illuminations  and  shadows  of  sunlight, 
twilight,  starlight  and  moonlight. 

Much  of  the  water  turns  to  mist  before  reaching  the  bottom ; 
yet  looking  up  from  under  it  the  volume  seems  great.  Six  hun 
dred  feet  above,  a  body  of  ragged  snowy  foam  with  disheveled 
tresses,  rushes  over  the  brink;  and  comes  singing  down  in  slender 
column,  swayed  to  and  fro  by  the  wind  like  a  long  strand  of  lace. 
For  four  hundred  feet  the  descent  is  unruffled ;  then,  striking  a 
broad,  inclining  rock,  like  the  roof  of  a  house,  the  water  spreads 
over  it — a  thin,  shining,  transparent  apron,  fringed  with  delicate 
gauze— and  glides  swiftly  to  the  bottom.  By  moonlight  the  whole 
looks  like  a  long  white  ribbon,  hanging  against  the  brown  wall, 
with  its  lower  end  widening  and  unraveled. 

Bridal  Vail  fall,  unbroken,  much  narrower,  and  softened  by 
a  delicate  mist  which  half  hides  it,  is  a  strip  of  white  fluttering 
foam,  which  the  wind  swings  like  a  silken  pendulum.  It  is 
spanned  by  a  rainbow;  and  at  some  points  the  thin,  glass-like 
sheet  reveals  every  hue  of  the  wall  behind  it.  Before  reaching 
the  end  of  its  long  descent,  a  rill  no  longer,  it  is  completely  trans 
formed  to  spray — the  Niobe  of  cascades  dissolved  in  tears. 

Above  Hutchings'  the  valley  breaks  into  three  canyons  and  the 
Merced  into  three  forks.  North  Fork  passes  through  Mirror  Lake 
— the  very  soul  of  transparency.  It  reflects  grass,  trees,  rocks, 
mountains  and  sky  with  such  perfect  and  startling  vividness  that 
one  cannot  believe  them  images  and  shadows.  He  fancies  the 
world  turned  upside  down,  and  shrinks  back  from  the  lake  lest  he 
should  tumble  over  the  edge  into  the  inverted  dome  of  blue  sky. 

On  the  Middle  or  main  Fork  is  Yernal  fall,  difficult  of  access. 
Leaving  our  horses  three  miles  from  the  hotel,  we  climbed  for  two 
weary  hours  along  dizzy  shelves  and  up  sharp  rocks,  where  the 
trail  rises  one  thousand  feet  to  the  mile ; — pine  woods  all  around 
us  ;  at  our  left  and  far  below,  the  river  chafing  and  roaring  in  its 
stony  bed.  Then  we  stood  at  the  foot  of  Yernal  fall.  Bridal 
Vail  and  Yosemite  are  on  little  lateral  creeks ;  Vernal  is  the  full, 
swelling  torrent  of  the  Merced.  Those  creep  softly  and  slowly 
down,  as  if  in  pain  and  hesitation.  This  rushes  eagerly  over 


428 


THE    WONDERFUL    BOUND    RAINBOW. 


[1865. 


gloomy  brown  rocks ;  then  leaps  headlong  for  more  than  three 
hundred  feet,  roaring  like  a  minature  Niagara. 

Rainbows  of  dazzling  brightness  shine  at  its  base.  Others  of 
the  party  reported  many ;  my  own  eyes,  defective  as  to  colors, 
beheld  only  two.  But  afterward  when  alone,  I  saw  what  to 
Hebrew  prophet  had  been  a  vision  of  heaven,  or  the  visible 
presence  of  the  Almighty.  It  was  the  round  rainbow — the  com 
plete  circle.  In  the  afternoon  sun  I  stood  upon  a  rock  a  hundred 
feet  from  the  base  of  the  fall,  and  nearly  on  a  level  with  it.  There 

were  two  brilliant 
rainbows  of  usual 
form — the  crescent, 
the  bow  proper.  But 
while  I  looked,  the 
two  horns  of  the 
inner  or  lower  crescent 
suddenly  lengthened, 
extending  on  each 
side  to  my  feet — an 
entire  circle,  perfect  as 
a  finger-ring.  In  two 
or  three  seconds  it 
passed  away,  shrink 
ing  to  the  first  dimen 
sions.  Ten  minutes 
later  it  formed  again  ; 
and  again  as  suddenly 
disappeared.  Every 
sharp  gust  of  wind 
showering  the  spray 
over  me  revealed  for 
a  moment  the  round 
rainbow.  Completely 

drenched  I  stood  for  an  hour  and  a  half;  and  saw,  fully  twenty 
times,  that  dazzling  circle  of  violet  and  gold,  on  a  groundwork 
of  wet  dark  rock,  gay  dripping  flowers  and  vivid  grass.  I  never 
looked  upon  any  other  scene  in  Nature  so  beautiful  and  im 
pressive. 


VERNAL  FALL  AND  THE  BOUND  RAINBOW. 


1865.]          GRANDEST    SCENERY    ON    THE    GLOBE.  429 

Climbing  a  high  rock- wall  by  crazy  wooden  ladders,  we  con 
tinued  up  the  canyon  for  three  quarters  of  a  mile  to  Nevada  fall, 
where  the  Merced  tumbles  seven  hundred  feet,  in  '  white  and 
swaying  mistiness.'  Near  the  bottom  it  strikes  an  inclined  rock, 
and  spreads  upon  it  in  a  sheet  of  floating  silver  tissue  a  hundred 
and  thirty  feet  wide. 

Passing  over  a  wide,  gaping  crack  or  chasm  in  this  rocky  grade, 
the  thin  sheet  of  water  breaks  into  delicate,  snowy  net- work ;  then 
into  myriads  of  shining  beads,  and  finally  into  long  sparkling 
threads — an  exquisite  silken  fringe  to  the  great  white  curtain. 

These  names  are  peculiarly  fitting.  Bridal  Yail  indeed  looks 
like  a  vail  of  lace.  In  summer,  when  Bridal  Vail  and  Yosemite 
dwarf,  Yernal  still  pours  its  ample  torrent.  And  Nevada  is  al 
ways  white  as  a  snow-drift. 

The  Yosemite  is  hight ;  the  Yernal  is  volume ;  the  Bridal  Yail 
is  softness;  but  the  Nevada  is  hight,  volume  and  softness 
combined.  South  Fork  cataract,  most  inaccessible  of  all,  we  did 
not  visit.  In  spring  each  fall  has  twenty  times  as  much  water 
as  in  summer. 

The  days  we  spent  in  the  valley  were  delightful  and  memorable. 
Evenings  were  devoted  to  song  and  merry-making;  and  the  motto 
of  the  party  was:  '  If  any  man  gets  up  before  eight  o'clock  in 
the  morning,  shoot  him  on  the  spot.'  But  by  day  we  wandered 
where  we  listed,  and  viewed  the  great  features  of  the  valley,  as  all 
impressive  things  in  nature  should  be  viewed,  alone.  Most  heartily 
I  envied  Olmsted,  who  with  his  family,  with  horses,  tents  and 
books,  remained  for  several  weeks,  moving  from  day  to  day,  and 
encamping  wherever  fancy  dictated. 

On  the  whole,  Yosemite  is  incomparably  the  most  wonderful 
feature  of  our  continent.  European  travelers  agree  that  trans 
atlantic  scenery  has  nothing  at  all  approaching  it.  Unless  the 
unexplored  Himalayas  hide  some  rival,  there  is  no  spot,  the  wide 
world  over,  of  such  varied  beauty  and  measureless  grandeur. 

Climbing  out  of  the  valley,  we  cast  one  longing,  lingering  look 
behind,  from  Inspiration  Point.  Here  is  the  best  comprehensive 
view,  not  of  separate  features  but  of  the  whole.  This  vast  open 
cathedral,  which  would  hold  fifty  millions  of  worshippers,  is  true 
to  the  ancient  imperious  maxim  of  architecture :  its  mean  width 

28 


430      EIGHT  THOUSAND   FEET  ABOVE   SEA-LEVEL.    [1865. 


about  equals  the  average  Light  of  its  walls.  Our  eyes,  now  ad. 
justed  to  its  distances  and  dimensions,  were  no  longer  pained  by 
the  amazing  spectacle.  At  last  we  turned  away  from  this 
sublimest  page  in  all  the  book  of  nature.  I  think  few  can  come 
from  its  study  without  hearts  more  humble  and  reverent,  lives 
more  worthy  and  loyal. 

Yosemite  valley  is  four  thousand  feet  above  sea-level.      After 

climbing  out 
and  re-passing 
Inspiration 
Point,  we  still 
ascend ;  and 
then  ride  for 
several  miles 
at  an  altitude 
of  about  eight 
thousand  feet. 
Here,  where 
snow  is  some 
times  twenty 
feet  deep,  are 
meadows  of 
richest  grass 
and  brighest 
flowers. 

The  pyra 
midal,  slender 
pine  abounds, 
frequently  two 

hundred  feet  high,  its  trunk  and  branches  gorgeous  with  yellow 
moss.  So  does  the  exquisite,  blue-tipped,  silvery  fir.  This 
profuse  vegetation,  with  larkspur,  daisy,  lily,  honeysuckle  and 
godola,  is  at  a  hight  which,  in  New  England  would  frost-kill  tree, 
flower,  grass  and  twig.  Even  here  are  thousands  of  dwarf  oaks 
and  chestnuts  rarely  four  feet  high,  yet  prolific  of  shriveled  nuts. 
The  mountain  mahogany  also  flourishes.  Its  red  berry  makes 
excellent  cider;  and  its  acid  juice  quenches  the  thirst  of  men  and 
of  grizzly  bears. 


BED   AND   BOARD. 


1865.]         VISITING    THE    MARIPOSA    BIG    TREES.  431 

In  1859,  Horace  Greeley  found  upon  this  lonely  summit  a  stray 
Yankee,  pasturing  one  hundred  and  fifty  hogs,  which  he  protected 
at  night  from  the  grizzly  bears,  by  building  around,  them  a  circle 
of  log  fires.  Long  ere  this  bears  have  been  thinned  by  pioneer 
rifles ;  hogs  have  made  their  inevitable  journey  to  the  San,  Fran 
cisco  slaughter-house;  and  herdsman  perhaps  turned  to  a  day 
laborer  in  Australian  mines,  perhaps  to  a  bank  president  in  New 
York,  with  parlors  at  the  Fifth  Avenue  Hotel,  and  a  six-horse 
equipage  in  the  Central  Park, 

After  coming  out  of  the  valley  we  spent  the  first  night  at 
Clark's,  a  long  low  porched  log  house  in  the  deep  woods.  Mr. 
Clark  is  a  hermit  and  a  pioneer  of  intelligence  and  kindness,  who 
has  turned  his  back  upon  civilization,  eschewed  'boiled  shirts ;'  and 
without  wife  or  child,  pitched  his  lonely  tent  in  the  wilderness. 
During  winter  even  he  retreats  before  the  Storm-king  to  Mariposa. 
Long-bearded.  s,nd  sun-browned,  he  looks  like  a  modernized 
Wandering  Jew,  and  talks  like  a  professor  of  belles-lettres  and 
moral  philosophy.  He  furnished  us  with  bed  and  board.  The 
ladies  occupied  straw  couches  under  hi&  roof,  filling  the  house; 
while  their  banished  lords  slept  under  heavenrs  canopy,  in  the 
lee  of  a  friendly  hay-stack,,  with  a  blanket  for  lodgings  and  a  board 
for  a  pillow. 

The  Mariposa  Big  Trees  are  six  miles  from  Clark's  and  thirty 
from  Yosemite  valley.  We  visited  them  by  diverging  five  miles 
from  our  homeward  route  to  San  Fancisco.  Six  hundred  of  these 
mammoths  are  scattered  among  the  noble  pines  of  twelve  hundred 
and  eighty  acres.  Many  of  the  pines  are  two  hundred  feet  high. 
Elsewhere  they  would  be  kings  of  the  forest ;  but  among  these 
hoary  giants  they  become  puny,  insignificant  children.  Pigmies 
on  Alps  may  be  pigmies  still,  but  pyramids  are  not  always  pyra 
mids  in  vales. 

The  Big  Trees  have  been  considered  redwoods — a  species  of 
cedar  abounding  upon  this  coast — but  the  botanists  decide  other 
wise  and  name  them  SEQUOIAS.  They  are  the  oldest  and  most 
stupendous  vegetable  products  existing  upon  the  globe.  Already 
twenty  groves  have  been  discovered  in  California.  The  Mariposa 
is  largest  and  finest,  though  the  Calaveras,  fifty  miles  to  the  north 
ward,  is  better  known. 


432 


TOETY    FEET    IN    DIAMETER. 


[1865. 


Of  the  Mariposa  sequoias,  two  hundred  are  more  than  twelve 
feet  in  diameter,  fifty  more  than  sixteen  feet,  and  six  more  than 
thirty  feet.  The  largest,  called  the  Prostrate  Monarch,  now  lying 
upon  the  ground  leafless  and  branchless,  is  believed  to  have  fallen 
fully  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago !  Fire  has  consumed  much 
of  the  trunk ;  but  enough  remains  to  show  that  with  the  bark  on 
it  must  have  been  forty  feet  in  thickness.  Figures  give  little  idea 


RIDING   THROUGH   A   TREE-TRUNK. 


of  such  dimensions.  Measure  up  forty  feet  on  a  house-wall ;  then 
four  hundred  feet  along  the  ground;  and  try  to  picture  the 
diameter  and  hight  of  the  Prostrate  Monarch  as  it  stood  a  thousand 
years  ago. 

The  tops  of  the  largest  trees  are  broken  off,  leaving  their  average 
hight  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  feet,  though  some  range  between 
three  and  four  hundred  feet.  "We  saw  one  with  a  branch — not  a 
fork,  but  an  honest,  lateral  branch — six  feet  in  diameter,  growing 
from  the  stem  eighty  feet  above  the  ground.  Into  a  cavity  burned 
in  the  side  of  another  standing  tree,  fifteen  of  us  rode  together. 
Without  crowding,  we  all  sat  upon  our  horses  in  that  black,  novel 


1865.]        A    FOREST    INGOMAR   AND    BARTH-ENIA.  433 

chamber,  though  it  occupies  less  than  half"  the  thickness  of  the 
immense  trunk. 

Through  a  stem  lying  upon  the  ground,  fire  has  bored  like  an 
auger.  Our  entire  cavalcade,  including  all  the  tall  men,  all  the 
fat  men,  and  all  the  ample  skirts,  rode  through  it  from  end  to  end, 
like  a  railway  train  through  a  tunnel. 

One  enormous  living  trunk  which  parts  near  the  ground  into 
two  tall,  symmetric,  perfect  stems,  is  christened  the  Faithful 
Couple.  Mr.  Clark  assured  us,  in  a  poetic  gush  quite  unlooked-for 
from  a  hermit  and  a  backwoodsman,  that  they  were 

' Two  souls  with  but  a  single  thought,, 
Two  hearts  that  beat  as  one.' 

The  faithfulness  of  this  forest  Ingomar  and  Partheina  is  like 
that  of  some  human  couples — neither  can  get  away. 

The  largest  standing;  tree  is4he  Grizzly  Giant.  Its  bark  is 
nearly  two  feet  thick.  If  it  were  cut  off  smoothly,  fifty  horses 
could  easily  stand,  or  sixteen  couples  dance,  upon  the  stump.  If 
the  trunk  were  hollowed  to  a  shell,  it  wouldi  hold  more  freight 
than  a  man-of-war  or  a  first-class  ocean  steamer  two  hundred  and 
fifty  feet  long ! 

One  of  the  Calaveras;  sequoias  was-  cut  down  by  boring  with 
augers  and  sawing  the  spaces  between,.  The  work  employed  five 
men  for  twenty-five  days*.  When  fully  cut  off  the  tree  stubbornly 
continued  to  stand,  only  yielding  at  last  to  a  mammoth  wedge  and 
a  powerful  battering-ram-.* 

The  pine  cones  are  cylindrical,,  and  sometimes  nearly  two  feet 
long.  Those  of  the  Big  Tree&  are  round,  and  not  larger  than 
apples.  Seedlings  from  them  are  growing  in  every  country  of 
Europe.  They  are  numerous  in  English  parks,  where  a  mania 
prevails  for  coniferous  trees.  Two  hundred  are  planted  in  our 
great  Central  Park ;  and  many  more  in  the  nurseries  of  western 
New  York.  They  are  thrifty  and  vigorous :  how  large  they  will 
become  is  an  interesting  problem. 

There  seems  to  be  no  convincing  or  even  plausible  theory  of 
their  origin.  I  should  rather  say  of  their  preservation ;  for  they 
are  children  of  a  long-ago  climatic  era.  The  age  of  giants  lingers 
on  the  entire  Pacific  coast. 


434          GRIZZLY   GIANT— 34  FEET  IN  DIAMETER.     [1865. 

Through  California  and 
Oregon  stupendous  red 
woods  are  everywhere 
numerous;  and  on  the 
summit  of  the  Sierras, 
almost  a  mile  above  sea- 
level,  grow  sugar  pines 
ten  and  twelve  feet  in 
diameter.  Well  says 
Holmes : 

'In  fact,   there's  nothing  that 

keeps  its  youth — 
So  far  as  I  know — but  a  tree 
and  truth.' 

It  was  once  thought 
incredible  that  the  yew 
should  live  a  thousand 
years.  But  these  monster 
sequoias  are  the  world's 
patriarchs.  Some  botanists 
date  their  birth  far  back 
of  earliest  human  history ; 
none  estimate  their  age  at 
less  than  eighteen  hun 
dred  years.  Perchance 
their  youth  saw  the 
awkward,  thundering 
mastodon  canter  over  the 
hills;  and  the  hundred- 
feet-long  reptile,  of  many 
legs  and  mouth  like  a 
volcano,  crawl  sluggishly 
through  torrid  swamps. 
They  were  living  when 
the  father  of  poets,  old, 
blind  and  vagabond,  sang 
his  immortal  song ;  when 


1865.]        A    GRAND    NATIONAL    SUMMER    RESORT.  435 

the  sage  of  Athens,  '  that  most  Christian  heathen,'  calmly  drank 
the  hemlock ;  when  the  carpenter  of  Judea,  from  whom  the  whole 
world  now  computes  its  time,  was  a  man  of  sorrows  and 
acquainted  with  grief,  despised  and  rejected  of  men. 

From  the  groves  we  continued  on  horseback  to  White  and 
Hatch's;  thence  by  carriage  to  Mariposa,  the  stage-coach  and 
civilization.  Thousands  of  cattle  browse  upon  the  parched  grass 
and  wild  oats.  Their  herders,  native  Yankees,  are  the  most  dar 
ing  of  riders — at  full  speed  leaping  off  and  remounting;  and 
throwing  the  lasso  around  any  leg  -or  horn  of  wild  horse  or  ox 
with  unerring  precision. 

One  universal  feature  of  California — rainless  for  half  the  year — 
would  have  driven  Don  Quixote  distracted :  windmills  at  nearly 
every  house  drawing  water  from  wells  for  irrigation. 

Traveling  time  from  San  Francisco  to  Yosemite,  via  Big  Trees : 
four  days  each  way.  Preferable  route :  go  by  Mariposa  and  re 
turn  via  Coulterville.  Expenses  of  round  trip  :  about  ten  dollars 
per  day.  Distances  via  Mariposa : 

San  Francisco  to  Stockton,  (steamer,) 123  miles. 

Stockton  to  Mariposa,  (stage,) 91  miles. 

Mariposa  to  White  &  Hatch'*,  (carriage,) 11  miles. 

White  &  Hatch's  to  Clark's,  (horseback,) 14  miles, 

Clark's  to  Yosemite,  (horseback,) 26  miles. 

San  Francisco  to  Yosemite, 265  miles. 

An  act  of  Congress  has  segregated  Yosemite  valley  and  the 
Mariposa  groves  of  Big  Trees,  from  the  general  public  domain, 
setting  them  apart  as  pleasure  grounds  for  the  people  of  the  United 
States  and  their  heirs  and  assigns  forever.  This  wise  legislation 
secures  to  the  proper  national  uses,  incomparably  the  largest  and 
grandest  park,  and  the  sublimest  natural  scenery  in  the  whole 
world.  They  are  under  the  care  of  a  commission  appointed  by 
the  governor  of  California  for  their  preservation  and  protection — 
to  render  them  accessible,  keep  them  free  from  mutilation,  and  see 
that  no  vandal  hand  of  Art  attempts  to  improve  upon  the  simplic 
ity  and  grandeur  of  Nature. 


436         INVITED    TO    CELESTIAL    HOSPITALITIES.      [1865. 


CHAPTER    XXXVI. 


FEOM  our  out-of-the-  world  journey  ings  to  Yosemite  and  the 
Big  Trees,  we  returned  to  terrestrial  pursuits  and  Celestial  hospi 
talities.  The  latter  were  tendered  in  the  following  invitation  to 
each  of  the  four  members  of  our  party,  printed  upon  slips  of  gilt- 
edged,  pink  paper,  in  shape  and  size  like  commercial  envelopes : 


INVITATION  TO  CHINESE  DINNER. 


1.  (Superscription  on  envelope.)     '  May  Mr. prosper.' 

2.  (First  enclosure.)    '  The  keeper  of  the  Luh-hwui  saloon  presents  compliments/ 
(Luh-hwui  signifies  '  Collecting  from  all  quarters.') 


1865.]  SITTING    DOWN    TO    THE    BANQUET.  437 

3  and  4.  (Second  enclosure.)  '  This  noon  a  slight  repast  awaits  light.' — ('Awaits  your 
presence.')  Ordinarily  Chinese  characters  read  in  column  from  top  to  bottom  and  from 
right  to  left.  But  here,  as  usual  in  cases  of  compliment,  the  upper,  left-hand  character 
for  '  light '  (used  by  Chinese  custom  instead  of  the  pronoun  '  you,')  is  elevated  to  the 
top  of  a  new  line,  as  a  mark  of  respect. 

In  addition  to  the  guests  of  the  evening,  thirty-five  prominent 
American  gentlemen,  and  thirty  leading  Chinese  residents  received 
this  card : 

SAN  FKANCISCO,  AUGUST  15,  1865. 

You  are  respectfully  invited  to  attend  a  complimentary  dinner,  to  be  given  to  the 
Hon.  Schuyler  Colfax,  speaker  of  the  United  States  House  of  Representatives  j  the 
Hon.  "Win.  Bross,  lieutenant-governor  of  Illinois ;  Albert  D.  Richardson,  New  York 
Tribune,  and  Samuel  Bowles,  Springfield  (Mass.)  Republican,  by  the  Six  CHINESE  COM 
PANIES  IN  CALIFORNIA,  on  Thursday,  August  17,  at  the  Hang  Heong  Restaurant,  No. 
308  Dupont  Street,  near  Clay,  at  six  P.  M.  In  behalf  of 

Chui  Sing  Tong,  President  of  Sam  Yap  Company. 

Khing  Fong,  President  of  Yueng  Wo  Company. 

Ting  Sang,  President  of  See  Yap  Company. 

"Wae  Nga,  President  of  Ning  Yeong  Company. 

Chee  Shum,  President  of  Hop  Wo  Company. 

Mum  Kuae,  President  of  Tan  Wo  Company. 

In  a  previous  chapter  I  have  spoken  of  the  Six  Companies,  to 
some  one  of  which  every  Chinaman  in  the  United  States  belongs. 
The  six  presidents  are  elective,  largely  salaried,  and  of  high 
ability.  At  the  restaurant,  they  awaited  us  in  rich  native  dress, 
with  shaved  heads  and  braided  cues  hanging  almost  to  the  ground. 
Upon  our  introduction  by  Mr.  Carvalho,  the  official  interpreter — 
born  in  China  of  American  parents — they  bowed  profoundly,  and 
through  him  tendered  assurances  of  their  most  distinguished  con 
sideration. 

The  Hang  Heong  restaurant,  of  wood,  two  and-a-half  stories 
high,  was  imported  ready-made  from  China.  The  dining  saloon 
is  on  the  second  floor.  Its  walls  are  hung  with  Chinese  placards 
giving  names  and  prices  of  dishes. 

Punctual  to  the  hour  we  took  our  places  at  little  round  tables, 
each  seating  nine  or  ten  persons.  Mr.  Colfax,  with  the  elite  of  our 
entertainers,  occupied  the  central  board.  The  table  on  his  right, 
where  Providence  and  Celestial  etiquette  placed  Messrs.  Bross, 
Bowles  and  myself,  was  surrounded  by  several  other  American 
gentlemen,  and  three  presidents. 


488 


MORE    THAN    THREE    HUNDRED    DISHES.       [1865. 


I  have  sat  at  good  men's  feasts,  both  to  the  stalled  ox  without 
hatred,  and  the  dinner  of  herbs  where  love  was.  I  have  enjoyed 
the  hospitalities  of  Mexican  haciendas,  Arapahoe  lodges,  Choctaw 
cabins,  negro  huts  and  rebel  prisons ;  but  this  was  a  new  gastro 
nomic  and  social  experience. 


CHINESE   DINNER   IN   SAN    FRANCISCO. 


The  food  was  all  brought  on,  ready  cut,  in  fine  pieces.  "We  ate 
only  with  ivory  chop-sticks — long,  round,  polished,  and  both  held 
in  the  right  hand.  After  learning  the  knack,  one  even  takes  up  rice 
between  them  with  surprising  facility.  There  were  three  hundred 
and  twenty-five  dishes.  Whatever  was  lacking  in  quantity  was 
made  up  in  quality,  for  the  choicest  cost  one  dollar  per  mouthful. 
Mr.  Bowles  partook  from  about  a  dozen  ;  Mr.  Colfax  from  forty ; 
I  suspended  somewhere  in  the  seventies ;  but  Gov.  Bross  relig- 


1865.]         EXTRACTS    FROM    THE    BILL- OF-FARE.  439 

iously  tasted  every  one.  Here  are  a  few :  bamboo  soup,  bird's  - 
nest  soup,  stewed  sea-weed,  stewed  mushrooms,  fried  fungus,  banana 
fritters,  shark  fins,  shark  sinews,  reindeer  sinews,  dried  Chinese 
oysters,  pigeons,  ducks,  chickens,  scorpions'  eggs,  watermelon 
seeds,  fish  in  scores  of  varieties,  many  kinds  of  cake,  and  fruits  ad 
infmitum.  There  were  no  joints  of  any  kind.  Neither  butter  nor 
milk  is  used  in  cooking. 

The  Celestials  drank  champagne  and  claret  as  if  to  the  manner 
born.  At  every  sip,  each  guest  bowed  seriatim  to  every  other  per 
son  at  his  table.  A  few  dishes  were  unpalatable ;  but  most  were 
toothsome.  The  oysters  and  sharks'  fins  were  especially  savory. 
Bird's  nest  soup  is  from  a  mucilage  which  certain  eastern  birds  collect 
for  building  materials.  Under  an  inviting  name  it  would  be  pop 
ular  at  the  Sf .  Nicholas. 

In  three  hours  and-a-half,  strong,  richly-flavored  black  tea — the 
Chinese  eschew  green  because  it  is  artificially  colored — was  dis 
tributed  in  tiniest  cups ;  and  thus  ended  the  first  course. 

Then  three-quarters  of  an  hour  for  cigarettes,  digestion  and 
oriental  music,  General  McDowell  and  our  party  occupying  a 
little  recess,  which  contained  a  divan  for  opium-smoking,  and  was 
labeled :  '  For  the  Guests  of  Honor.'  The  instruments  were  a  hol 
low  shell,  like  a  turtle's  back,  beaten  with  two  sticks;  a  violin  with 
bow  confined  between  the  strings  and  running  like  a  cross-cut  saw ; 
sometl ling  resembling  a  viol;  and  something  else  like  a  banjo,  the 
sharp  strings  struck  with  a  flint  instead  of  the  fingers.  All  were 
keyed  very  high,  but  their  shrill  music  was  not  unpleasing. 

As  their  rigid  etiquette  requires,  the  presidents  now  retired,  after 
little  kindly  speeches  and  replies,  duly  interpreted.  At  the  second 
course  leading  merchants  took  their  places.  The  three  at  our 
table  were  young,  intelligent  men,  with  broad  foreheads  and  quick 
eyes,  who  spoke  excellent  English.  Great  is  Commerce!  A 
knowledge  of  the  Celestial  tongue  is  becoming  indispensable  even 
to  American  merchants ;  and  a  newspaper,  printed  both  in  Chinese 
and  in  English,  indicates  the  mercantile  bonds  already  woven  be 
tween  the  two  peoples  and  countries. 

Our  entertainers  had  strong  individuality;  but  the  lower  classes 
all  look  alike  to  American  eyes.  When  one  was  on  trial  for 
murder,  several  white  citizens  were  ready  to  swear  that  they  saw 


440  'WIVES  WON'T  COME/  [1865. 

him  commit  the  crime ;  but  his  counsel  placed  him  among  eleven 
other  Chinamen,  and  not  one  could  select  him  from  the  group ! 

The  merchants  told  us  that  all  Chinese  expect  ultimately  to  re 
turn  home.  To  my  question  why  they  do  not  bring  their  wives 
here,  one  replied,  with  great  emphasis:  'Wives  won't  come!' 
Tea  was  circulated  several  times  and  Chinese  wine  once,  in  crock 
ery  cups  holding  about  two  thimblefuls.  It  is  flavored  with  roses, 
intensely  strong,  and  far  more  intoxicating  than  brandy.  With  us 
it  would  be  termed  a  cordial. 

After  this  course  the  merchants  made  their  adieux ;  and  at 
dessert,  others,  less  prominent,  took  their  places.  At  the  close,  one, 
Toy  Chew,  made  the  first  English  speech  ever  attempted  by  a 
Chinaman  on  the  Pacific  coast.  With  point  and  fluency  he  com 
plimented  Mr.  Colfax ;  touched  upon  the  wonderful  growth  of  the 
United  States  and  the  warm  interest  in  it  felt  by  all  his  race. 

At  midnight  ended  this  novel  banquet — the  world's  oldest  civ 
ilization  striking  hands  with  its  youngest.  The  occasion  was  cu 
rious  and  memorable.  Hereafter,  upon  every  invitation,  I  shall 
sup  with  the  Celestials,  and  say  grace  with  all  my  heart. 

Soon  after,  I  was  compelled  to  bid  adieu  to  my  companions. 
An  overland  trip  is  a  sort  of  limited  matrimony.  One  is  bound 
to  his  comrades  for  better  or  for  worse ;  if  he  select  them  in  haste 
he  will  repent  at  leisure.  The  Atchisonians  warned  us  in  advance 
that  no  party  ever  crossed  the  continent  without  quarreling ;  that 
for  the  first  week  we  should  ask  each  other :  *  Has  any  gentleman 
seen  my  note-book?'  but  that  thereafter  the  inquiry  would  be: 
*  What  d — d  scoundrel  has  stolen  my  tooth-brush  ?'  False  proph 
ets  they!  For  fifteen  weeks  and  six  thousand  miles,  we  were 
a  happy  family,  even  when  every  day  was  Moving-day.  The  lines 
had  fallen  to  us  in  pleasant  places.  The  trip  had  been  full  of 
interest  and  profit. 

For  Mr.  Colfax  it  proved  one  continuous  ovation.  Now,  at  its 
close,  he  looked  back  through  a  long  vista  of  brass  bands  and  ban 
quets,  private  welcomes  and  public  receptions.  It  was  deserved ; 
for  he  made  it  solely  to  study  the  great  interests  of  the  West, 
which  are  national  as  well  as  local ;  and  he  had  always  been  their 
liberal  and  steadfast  friend.  It  must  be  some  compensation  for  the 
emptiness  and  thanklessness  of  public  life,  to  be  thus  loved  and 


1865.]  MR.   COLFAX  AND  HIS  JO  UENEY.  441 

honored  by  personal  strangers,  in  the  remote,  scattered  homes  of 
half  a  continent — to  be  thus  welcomed  as  an  old  and  dear  friend 
in  new  communities,  thousands  of  miles  from  one's  birthplace 
and  from  all  the  scenes  of  his  life. 

In  every  position  thus  far  he  has  achieved  signal  success ;  and 
if  his  countrymen  ever  call  him  to  the  highest  place  in  their  gift, 
he  will  fill  it  with  credit  to  himself  and  honor  to  the  nation.*  In 
private  as  in  public  he  steals  the  heart  of  every  man,  woman,  and 
child — by  no  demagoguery  or  effort,  but  by  simplicity,  natural 
ness,  and  overflowing  kindness.  He  is  a  childless  widower  of 
forty-two. 

Governor  Bross  is  fifty  by  the  almanac ;  but  in  vigor  and  fresh 
ness  of  feeling,  thirty  years  younger.  Like  Old  Virginia,  he  never 
tires.  In  Illinois  campaigns  he  often  makes  one  hundred  speeches ; 


*  Three  years  after  the  close  of  this  journey  Mr.  Colfax  was  called,  not  to  the 
highest,  but  to  the  second  place  in  the  Government,  under  circumstances  peculiarly 
gratifying  to  his  friends.  In  May,  1868,  a  National  Republican  convention  was  held 
at  Chicago.  Every  State  in  the  Union  was  represented.  For  the  presidency  Gen 
eral  Grant  was  nominated  by  acclamation.  For  the  vice  presidency  there  were  a 
large  number  of  candidates,  including  several  eminent  both  for  their  talents  and  their 
services.  All  usage  and  probabilities  were  against  a  nomination  from  the  West.  For 
eight  years  the  presidential  chair  had  been  filled  by  western  men,  and  now  a 
general  from  Illinois  had  been  selected  to  occupy  it  for  four  years  more.  .  But  the 
moment  the  delegates  began  to  ballot  the  tide  set  inevitably  toward  the  young 
statesman  of  Indiana,  and  in  the  midst  of  great  enthusiasm  he  was  selected  for  the 
second  place  on  the  ticket.  After  a  spirited  canvass  Grant  and  Colfax  were  elected 
in  the  November  following,  by  a  popular  majority  of  more  than  three  hundred  thou 
sand.  Upon  one  of  the  first  days  of  March,  1869,  Mr.  Colfax  resigned  the  speak- 
ership  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  which  he  had  filled  for  three  terms,  to  as 
sume  the  duties  of  the  vice  presidency.  One  of  his  last  acts  in  the  speakership 
exhibited  his  high  qualities  as  a  presiding  officer.  It  was  while  both  branches  of 
Congress  were  sitting  in  joint  convention,  to  count  the  electoral  votes  for  president 
and  vice  president.  Through  the  turbulence  of  General  Butler,  of  Massachusetts, 
a  most  disgraceful  tumult  occurred,  stopping  the  transaction  of  business  and  causing 
a  dead  lock.  The  president  of  the  Senate — ex  officio  the  presiding  officer  of  the 
convention — proved  utterly  unable  to  quell  it ;  but  when  the  confusion  was  at  its 
height,  a  few  prompt,  decisive  words  from  Speaker  Colfax,  threatening  to  place  the 
turbulent  members  under  arrest  if  they  persisted,  instantly  put  an  end  to  the  hu 
miliating  scene.  Soon  after  his  inauguration  as  vice  president  Mr.  Colfax  was  mar 
ried  to  a  lady  from  Ohio.  His  new  sphere  is  higher,  though  more  quiet  and  less 
exciting  than  the  old;  and  he  bids  fair  to  receive,  sooner  or  later,  one  promotion 
more  at  the  hands  of  his  countrymen. 


442  MY    FKIENDS    HOMEWARD    BOUND.  [1865. 

the  air  of  the  rostrum  is  his  native  element.  At  San  Francisco,  a 
Forty-niner  is  the  pioneer  of  pioneers — one  who  came  over  with 
William  the  Conqueror — one  of  the  Conscript  Fathers.  Said  a 
Californian  to  me:  *  Why,  I  could  have  sworn  that  Governor  Bross 
was  a  Forty-niner  1  If  he  lived  here  we  should  send  him  at  once 
to  the  United  States  Senate.'  Of  eastern  birth,  Massachusetts  ed 
ucation,  and  long,  successful  experience  in  Chicago  journalism,  he 
combines  keen  humor  and  mellow  geniality  with  ripe  judgment 
and  most  sterling  worth. 

The  knowledge  that  Mr.  Colfax  had  been  an  early  and  zealous 
friend,  in  Congress,  of  the  overland  mail,  the  overland  telegraph, 
the  Pacific  Kail  road,  and  the  development  of  our  great  mining 
interests,  caused  him  to  be  received  everywhere  with  peculiar 
warmth.  And  when  it  became  understood  that  his  journalistic 
companions  had  accompanied  him  only  for  the  purpose  of  report 
ing  faithfully,  and  to  the  best  of  their  ability,  upon  the  scenery, 
society,  and  resources  of  our  new  States  and  Territories,  the 
whole  party  received  enthusiastic  welcome,  and  the  most  liberal 
facilities  for  travel,  observation,  and  investigation. 

On  the  second  of  September  the  firm  was  dissolved.  The  three 
senior  member;*  had  withdrawn,  seceded,  contrabanded.  'When 
last  seen,'  thr y  were  grouped  on  a  hurricane  deck.  '  Hip, 
hip,  hurra!'  cheered  the  crowd.  'Boom!'  thundered  the  gun. 
Groaned  the  engines,  wheezed  the  steam  pipes,  creaked  the  pad 
dle-wheels.  Slowly  rounded  the  great  steamer  from  the  wharf; 
deftly  she  wended  out  from  the  forest  of  masts  ;  then  moved  like  a 
strong  swimmer,  past  the  acres  of  shipping,  past  the  wonderful 
city  with  a  history  like  Aladdin's  palace,  past  Alcatraz,  through 
the  Gold1  in  Gate — and  they  were  Homeward  Bound.  So  my 
friends  had  gone.  Simple  yet  profound  is  the  truth  of  Enoch 
Arden :  *  Things  seen  are  greater  than  things  heard.'  This  long 
and  sometimes  weary  journeying,  had  added  incomparably  to  their 
large  usefulness  ;  and  they  returned  more  intelligent,  appreciative 
and  enthusiastic  friends  of  our  new  States,  than  they  had  ever  been 
before. 

California  politics  are  an  interesting  study.  United  States  Sen 
ator  John  Conness,  was  curiously  elected.  There  was  a  hot  con 
test,  but  he  was  not  a  candidate.  Rivalry  was  bitter  and  money 


1865.]          CALIFORNIA    POLITICS    AS    A    STUDY. 

used  freely.  A  friend  of  the  leading  aspirant  was  entrapped  into 
offering  five  thousand  dollars  for  the  vote  of  a  legislator,  who  was 
none  too  honest,  but  in  the  interest  of  the  other  side.  It  occurred 
in  the  private  room  of  the  member,  who  had  previously  secreted 
two  witnesses  in  his  wardrobe ;  and  they  heard  the  proposition. 
The  legislature,  disgusted  at  the  corruption,  went  outside  of  all 
the  candidates  and  elected  Conness,  who  was  lying  ill  at  home. 

The  finest  State-house  in  the  Union 
is  building  at  Sacramento.  It  is  of 
light  sandstone ;  and  agreeable  in  archi 
tecture  and  situation.  A  glance  at  the 
legislature,  in  session  during  one  of  my 
visits,  was  peculiarly  entertaining.  As 
in  all  western  assemblies,  most  of 
the  members  were  young.  There  was 
no  prosing.  The  speaking  was  spirit 
ed  and  pointed.  The  faces  indicated 
that  the  standard  of  brains  was  a  good 
deal  higher  than  in  most  parliamentary  bodies. 

Society  in  the  new  States  has  strong  distinctive  features.  It 
makes  the  forehead  broader  and  the  heart  warmer.  After  a  few 
years'  experience,  even  the  most  stupid  will  show 

'  How  much  the  dunce  who  has  been  sent  to  roam 
Excels  the  dunce  who  has  been  kept  at  home.' 

The  intelligence  of  the  plainest  working  men,  day  laborers, 
miners,  teamsters,  is  peculiarly  noticeable.  It  is  partly  due  to  the 
sudden  ups  and  downs.  I  rode  on  the  box  with  a  stage-driver 
who  was  working  for  one  hundred  dollars  per  month.  Two  years 
before,  he  owned  the  entire  stage-line,,  and  was  worth  one  hundred 
thousand  dollars.  Next  year,  he  may  own  it  again,  and  the  pres 
ent  proprietor  be  cracking  the  whip.  The  man  who  first  found 
gold  in  California  is  now  poor.  So  is  the  discoverer  of  the  great 
Comstock  silver  mine — the  richest  in  the  world. 

The  people  are  warm  and  demonstrative.  One  of  them  going 
back  to  the  East  is  surprised  at  the  general  coldness  and  formality. 
He  fancies  that  his  old  friends  have  never  thawed  out  from  the 
freezing  their  fathers  got  on  Plymouth  rock.  California  is  the 


444  FEATURES    OF    CALIFORNIA    SOCIETY.         [1865. 

culmination  of  all  that  is  best  and  pleasantest  in  frontier  life.  The 
people  curiously  combine  shrewdness  and  enthusiasm.  They  go 
fast,  have  the  best,  and  despise  the  expense.  Parsimony  is  the 
Charybdis  which  they  shun  with  so  much  terror  that  a  good  many 
go  to  pieces  upon  the  Scylla  of  Extravagance.  Wo  to  him  who 
is  niggardly,  and  to  the  new-comer  who  puts  on  airs ! 

According  to  Emerson,  great  cities  take  the  nonsense  out  of 
us.  So  does  frontier  life.  It  teaches  practical  sagacity,  rare 
judgment  of  men,  quick  detection  of  shams,  ready  weighing  of  a 
stranger's  capacity,  and  generous  trust  in  the  trustworthy. 

The      aboriginal     Californians 
lived  upon  worms  and  grasshop 
pers,    and    were    most    wretched 
and    degraded   of  all  barbarians. 
The   world   does    not    contain   a 
more  cordial,  whole-souled,  gener 
ous  people  than  the  Californians 
of  to-day.     Their    hearts   are   as 
large  as  their  mountains  and  as 
warm  as  their  climate.     Time  will 
F^xtyfc.   correct  faults  and  supply  deficien- 
J^**1  cies ;  the  next  generation  ought  to 
ABORIGINAL  CALIFORNIANS.          see  laeTQ  the  best  average  society 
in  the  Union,  and  therefore  in  the  world. 

Already  the  State  cherishes  the  names  of  her  young  heroes — 
young  because  the  dead  can  nevej;  grow  old.  Starr  King,  Brod- 
erick  and  Baker,  repose  in  Lone  Mountain  cemetery,  over 
looking  the  Golden  Gate,  and  the  city  of  their  adoption  and  their 
love. 

In  the  matter  of  diet,  our  first  San  Francisco  experience  was 
amusing.  We  arrived  at  midnight;  and  before  two  o'clock  the 
next  afternoon,  in  addition  to  breakfast,  we  had  been  beguiled 
into  participating  in  four  '  little  lunches.'  By  this  time  we  began 
to  realize  that  luncheon  is  the  meal  of  the  Pacific  coast ;  that  the 
proper  time  for  it  is  at  any  hour  of  the  day  or  night ;  and  that 
whenever  the  stranger  is  invited  to  eat  '  a  bite '  or  take  '  a  little 
luncheon,'  it  means  an  elaborate  meal,  with  choice  fruits,  and  often 
with  rare  wines. 


1865.] 


AMERICAN    WIT    AND    HUMOR. 


445 


The  new  country  is  prolific  of  new  words  and  phrases.  In  con 
versation,  San  Francisco  is  shortened  to  'Frisco.'  At  first  it 
sounded  droll  enough ;  but  we  did  in  Frisco  as  the  Friscans  did, 
and  soon  adopted  their  nomenclature.  A  'bilk'  is  an  impostor, 
from  the  old  Gothic  verb  'to  bilk.'  The  noun  is  common  in 
England,  but  new,  I  think,  in  the  United  States.  To  'slop  over,' 
is  to  make  some  foolish  mistake,  run  into  wild  eccentricity,  be  ill- 
balanced.  'That's  the  way  I  put  it  up,'  signifies,  'the  way  I  con 
struct  or  build  up  my  theory.'  Sometimes  the  provincialisms 
degenerate  into  slang.  'I  don't  see  it,'  (incredulity.)  'You  get!' 
(begone,)  'You  bet! '(strong affirmation,) and  the  rest  of  that  large 
family,  all  flourish. 

There  is  a  story  of  a  bur 
glar,  who  at  midnight  climbed 
up  to  a  chamber-window-,  and 
cautiously  opened  it.  The  oc 
cupant,  chancing  to  be  awake, 
crept  softly  to  the  window, 
and  just  as  the  robber's  face 
appeared,  presented  the  smooth 
muzzles  of  two  revolvers,  with 
the  injunction : 

'You  get!' 

'You  bet!'  replied  the 
house-breaker,  dropping  and 
running.  There  is  no  more 
pithy  dialogue  on  record. 

Beyond  question  the  Amer-  you  GET  i 

leans     are    the    wittiest    and 

most  humorous  people  in  the  world.  And  on  the  Pacific  coast, 
one  hears,  in  every-day  conversation,  more  clever  sayings  and 
pungent  retorts  than  anywhere  else.  Shall  I  record  a  few  to  con 
clude  the  chapter? 

A  gentleman  who  affected  great  plainness  of  habit  and  dress  was 
elected  to  the  United  States  Senate.  One  of  his  neighbors 
remarked : 

'He  will  instantly  have  the  cobbler  put  patches  on  all  his  new 
boots,  to  show  that  his  new  position  has  not  made  him  proud.' 

29 


446 


A    STRING    OF    CALIFORNIA    STORIES. 


[1865. 


A  candidate  for  another  leading  office  had  a  very  small  head 
and  enormous  limbs.  Said  one  of  his  political  opponents: 

'•He  is  certain  to  be  beaten.  This  State  will  never  elect  a  man 
who  wears  a  number-four  hat  and  number- thirteen  boots !' 

A  notorious  exaggerator,  after  describing  an  impossible  tree, 
said  to  his  auditor : 

'  I  don't  wonder  that  you  look  incredulous.  I  would  not  have 
believed  it  myself,  if  I  had  not  seen  it.' 

'Well,'  replied  the  dry  listener,  '/don't  see  it!' 
An  official  surveyor  was  reputed  greedy  and  avaricious,  refus 
ing  to  survey  property,  as  his  duties  required,  unless  the  owner 
would  give  him  an  interest  in  the  real  estate.     Suddenly  he  was 
removed  from  office,  when  one  of  his  friends  declared  that  his  head 

was  taken  off  because  he  opposed  Senator . 

'  O  no,'  was  the  reply  ;  '  that  was  not  the  reason.' 

'  Then  why  was  he  removed  ?' 

'  Because  he  wanted  to  be  monarch  of  all  he  surveyed.' 

A  senatorial  candidate  was 
noted  for  his  slovenly  attire. 
A  lady  said  of  him:  'Mr. 
Blank  is  really  the  best  man ; 
and  I  should  like  to  see  him 
elected  if  the  legislature  would 
give  him  instructions.' 

'What  instructions?'  asked 
her  interlocutor. 

'  Instructions  to   put  on   a 
clean  shirt  once  a  week,  and 
wash  his  face  every  morning !' 
An  ex-governor  and  ex-sen- 
ator  was  a  passenger  on  the 
wrecked  steamer  Golden  Kule. 
'  What  did  you  save  ?'  in 
quired  a  friend.     He  replied  : 
*  I  saved  nothing  but  my  character.' 

'  Then,'  retorted  the  wag,  '  you  must  have  landed  at  San  Fran 
cisco  with  less  baggage  than  any  other  man  who  ever  came  to  the 
Pacific  coast  1' 


YOU   BET.' 


1865.]        THE    KAW    WINDS    OF    SAN    FBANCISCO.  447 


CHAPTER    XXXVII. 


THE  general  climate  of  California  is  equable  and  balmy,  with 
no  snow  save  in  mountain  regions;  and  air  so  dry  that  even  in 
Sacramento  where  the  mercury  sometimes  rises  to  one  hundred 
and  twenty  degrees,  the  heat  is  less  prostrating  than  that  of  our 
eastern  summers.  The  interior  is  very  kind  to  bronchial  and 
pulmonary  complaints. 

But  San  Francisco  is  a  marked  exception.  The  mean  tempera 
ture  of  July  varies  only  eight  degrees  from  that  of  January.  Ice 
is  never  produced,  and  thin  clothing  never  worn.  Many  houses 
are  hidden  by  luxuriant  vines  and  shrubbe^ ;  and  throughout 
the  winter,  delicate  flowers  grow  in  the  open  air,  upon  bleakest 
hills  swept  by  ocean  winds.  Koses,  fuchsias  and  heliotropes  glad 
den  the  eye  at  Christmas  and  New  Year. 

Yet  San  Francisco  is  one  of  the  very  worst  climates  on  the 
continent  for  sensitive  throats  and  weak  lungs.  The  incisive 
winds,  commencing  at  noon  and  continuing  far  into  night,  seem 
to  be  the  chief  cause.  I  found  a  fire  in  my  room  essential  to 
comfort,  on  the  twentieth  of  August — often  a  more  severe  month 
than  December.  The  winds  are  stronger  in  summer  than  in 
winter ;  but  to  infirm  throats  or  lungs  they  are  dangerous  at  all 
seasons.  It  is  not  simply  that  the  air  is  salt ;  for  many  who  are 
robust  during  ocean  voyages  cannot  endure  sea-winds  blowing 
upon  the  land. 

The  Golden  Gate,  the  outlet  of  San  Francisco  harbor,  is  a 
break  in  the  Coast  Range  mountains.  Through  its  narrow  portals 
rushes  a  current  of  air  like  the  blast  of  a  furnace,  passing  up  the 
valley  of  the  Sacramento  to  supply  the  basins  west  of  the  Sierra 
Nevadas.  It  penetrates  every  fiber  of  the  body,  and  cuts  into 
weakened  chests  and  throats  like  a  sharp  knife. 


448 


A    CLIMATE    STIMULATING    LIKE    WINE.       [1865. 


But  to  persons  in  sound  health  the  city  air  is  pleasant  and 
bracing.  Indeed  it  stimulates  like  wine.  Her  climate  which 
makes  the  blood  bound  and  the  nerves  tingle,  is  doubtless  respon 
sible  for  much  of  the  '  fastness'  of  San  Francisco.  It  brings  back 
the  buoyancy  of  childhood.  In  the  end  it  must  shorten  life;  for 


SAN  FRANCISCO  PROM  THE  BAY,  IN  1847. 

human,  like  mechanical  machinery,  cannot  increase  in  speed  with 
out  increase  of  friction ;  the  faster  it  runs  the  sooner  it  wears  out. 

The  novelties  of  the  city  never  cease.  One  is  constantly  re 
minded  that  twenty  years  ago  here  were  only  sand-hills,  with  the 
crumbling  cathedral  and  rude  adobe  dwellings  of  a  little  Spanish 
post.  Every  morning  he  looks  out  in  fresh  surprise  upon  the 
teeming  life  of  a  great  metropolis,  with  stately  blocks  of  brick 
and  stone,  railroads,  street-cars,  gas,  markets,  exchanges,  elegant 
residences,  costly  school-houses,  imposing  churches  and  generous 
charities. 


1865.]    FIRES    AND    EARTHQUAKES    UNAVAILING.          449 

More  striking  still  is  its  magnificent  harbor,  with  miles  of 
steamers  and  sailing  vessels — a  harbor  which  has  contained  at  one 
time  within  its  anchorage  more  ships  than  did  ever  New  York, 
Liverpool,  or  London.  Our  generation  has  seen  no  second  miracle 
like  the  origin  and  growth  of  San  Francisco. 

It  is  far  more  cosmopolitan  than  any  other  American  city  except 
New  York.  It  has  four  hotels  which  would  be  creditable  to  any 
metropolis  in  the  world.  At  these,  and  along  Montgomery  street, 
one  sees  that  curious  mingling  of  faces  from  every  quarter  of  the 
globe,  which  is  characteristic  of  Broadway.  Before  leaving  home, 
I  could  remember  only  one  personal  acquaintance  in  California. 
But  on  arriving  I  was  surprised  to  meet  scores  of  familiar  coun 
tenances — men  whom  I  supposed  dead,  men  whom  I  fancied  still 
in  the  East,  and  men  long  forgotten.  As  good  Bostonians  when 
they  die  are  said  to  go  to  Paris,  all  other  Americans  good  and  bad 
must  go  to  California. 

The  heavy  earthquake  of  October,  1865,  depressed  property  for 
the  time,  and  frightened  a  few  residents  into  leaving.  The  falling 
chimneys  and  walls  did  not  kill  a  single  person ;  though  some  high 
buildings  were  cracked  from  top  to  bottom,  every  loose  article 
shaken  from  tables  and  mantles,  and  one  fissure,  as  large  as  the 
head  of  a  flour-barrel,  left  in  the  earth. 

But  San  Francisco  is  the  inevitable  business  center  fo;  all  the 
interior  west  of  Salt  Lake ;  and  for  the  long  coast  from  Behring's 
Straits  to  Patagonia.  A  brisk  trade  also  is  springing  up  with  the 
Sandwich  Islands,  Japan  and  China. 

Nature  ordained  this  queen  of  the  Pacific  a  great  metropolis— the 
second  city  on  the  American  continent.  Burned  to  the  ground 
six  times  within  eighteen  months,  her  growth  was  not  stopped, 
nor  her  prosperity  impaired ;  and  if  a  new  earthquake  were  to 
shake  down  every  building,  not  leaving  one  stone  upon  another, 
the  town  would  soon  be  as  large  and  as  vigorous  as  ever. 

I  can  but  barely  touch  upon  the  manufacturing,  farming,  fruit 
growing  and  mining  of  this  wonderful  young  State. 

Manufactures  in  iron  and  wool  are  further  advanced  than  any 
others.  Some  cotton  cloth  is  already  made ;  and  California,  Ari 
zona,  Utah,  Sandwich  Islands  and  South  America  will  supply  the 
raw  staple. 


450 


PREJUDICE    AGAINST    THE    CHINESE. 


[1865. 


The  Mission  Woolen  Mills,  near  the  old  Mision  Dolores  which 
John  Phoenix  immortalized  in  his  unequaled  burlesque  upon  Gov 
ernment  railroad  surveys,  are  six  years  old,  with  a  capital  of  eight 
hundred  thousand  dollars.  At  first  they  were  a  failure,  owing  to 
the  high  prices  of  labor ;  but  since  the  introduction  of  Chinamen, 
content  with  one  dollar  and  twenty -five  cents  per  day,  (white  labor 
costs  about  three  dollars,)  they  prove  a  great  success. 

There  is  wide-spread  prejudice  against  the  Chinese.  In  the 
mines  they  pay  a  monthly  tax  of  four  dollars  per  head  for  the 
privilege  of  working,  and  thereby  swell  immensely  the  State 


SAN    FRANCISCO    IX    1849. 

revenues ;  but  they  are  often  driven  away.  Many  believe  they 
have  no  rights  which  white  men  are  bound  to  respect ;  and  some 
leading  citizens  advocate  their  total  expulsion  from  our  shores. 
Three  hundred  dollars  is  the  ideal  'pile'  of  a  laboring  China 
man  ;  and  when  he  has  attained  it,  he  is  ready  to  return  to  his 
wives  and  children  in  the  Celestial  land  for  which  his  heart  never 
ceases  to  yearn.  He  has  no  desire  to'  become  an  American  citizen ; 
he  does  not  settle,  he  only  stays.  Is  it  because  he  has  come  east 
ward,  while  the  irrevocable  fiat  of  Nature  requires  that  emigration 
shall  move  only  toward  the  setting  sun  ? 


1865.]    MISSION  MILLS,   CHURCH,   YOSEMITE  VIEWS.  451 

Even  the  wealthy  Chinese  merchants  expect  to  return  to  the 
home  of  their  nativity.  The  masses  are  almost  invariably  able 
to  read  and  write  their  own  language.  Their  imitative  capacity  is 
wonderful;  they  can  do  whatever  they  have  seen  done.  They 
make  admirable  operatives,  working  with  the  exactness  of  ma 
chinery  itself;  and  will  yet  be  largely  employed  in  running  quartz- 
crushers,  and  in  general  manufactures. 

At  the  Mission  Mills  I  examined  finer,  softer,  heavier  woolen 
blankets  than  I  ever  saw  elsewhere.  The  San  Francisco  factories 
have  supplied  our  army  with  some  of  its  best.  All  their  work  is 
of  the  highest  quality.  Throughout  the  mines  of  Arizona,  Idaho, 
Nevada  and  Montana  the  demand  is  almost  exclusively  for 
California  and  Oregon  woolens,  on  account  of  their  superiority 
to  those  from  the  Atlantic  coast. 

I  glanced  into  the  Mission  church,  built  by  the  Spaniards  two 
hundred  years  ago.  It  has  adobe  walls,  three  feet  in  thickness, 
adorned  by  the  cheap  paintings  and  images  with  which  early 
Jesuit  missionaries  excited  the  imaginations  of  simple  natives. 
In  the  graveyard  beside  it  lies  buried  James  Casey,  murderer  of 
James  King  of  William,  editor  of  the  Bulletin.  This  homicide 
was  the  immediate  cause  of  the  famous  vigilance  committee  of 
1856,  at  whose  hands  Casey  was  hanged.  An  imposing  marble 
monument  bears  his  dying  words :  '  May  God  forgive  my  perse 
cutors  !'  Why  do  the  most  graceless  scoundrels,  at  the  point 
of  death,  often  display  so  much  more  piety  than  anybody 
else? 

Some  witty  writer  defines  Photography  as  'justice  without 
mercy.'  In  this  art,  San  Francisco  has  made  enviable  progress. 
It  is  largely  due  to  the  wonderfully  clear  air.  If  the  ancients,  in 
the  childhood  of  the  human  race,  the  world's  morning  twilight, 
'had  such  an  atmosphere  and  such  an  empyrean,  no  wonder  they 
thought  the  blue  sky  the  floor  of  heaven.  California  photographs 
are  far  clearer  than  the  East  can  produce ;  and  some  of  the  large 
views  of  Yosemite,  (pronounced  Yo-sem-i-te,)  are  beyond  compari 
son  the  finest  sun-pictures  ever  taken — even  excelling  the  famed 
photographs  of  Italy. 

The  placer  mining  of  California  is  nearly  exhausted.  The 
quartz  mining  is  but  just  begun.  Cheapness  of  machinery,  labor 


452  CALIFORNIA   QUARTZ -MINING  AND   FARMING.  [1865. 

and  living,  give  these  lodes  great  advantages  over  those  of  more 
distant  regions.  Quartz  containing  eight  or  nine  dollars  of  gold  to 
the  ton,  pays  well ;  while  in  portions  of  Nevada,  Utah,  Montana 
and  Idaho,  ore  will  not  justify  crushing  unless  one  hundred  dol 
lars  can  be  extracted  from  each  ton.  The  Pacific  railway  will 
partially  equalize  this ;  but  can  never  do  so  fully.  In  general  the 
California  quartz-gold  is  fine  and  easily  worked.  Almost  half  of 
our  mineral  product  is  from  this  State. 

Mining  is  a  lottery ;  tilling  the  earth  is  a  certainty,  and  frugal, 


INTERIOR  OF  MISSION   CHURCH. 

industrious  farmers  grow  rich.  About  one-third  of  all  the  land 
is  susceptible  of  culture ;  and  the  soil  is  generally  good,  though 
not  equal  to  the  Mississippi  valley.  There  is  no  depth  at  which 
it  gives  out.  In  most  localities,  with  early  sowing  and  planting, 
little  irrigation  is  required.  In  the  Sacramento  valley  and  other 
sections  wild  oats  grow  luxuriantly.  In  the  San  Jose  valley  a 
field  produced  a  hundred  bushels  of  wheat  to  the  acre,  and  the 
next  year  yielded  a  *  volunteer  crop '  (without  plowing  01  sow 
ing,)  of  sixty  bushels  to  the  acre. 


CALIFORNIA  FRUITS  AND  VEGETABLES.  Page   453. 


1865.]     GRAIN,    VEGETABLES    AND    FRUIT    TREES.        453 

Of  the  entire  agricultural  product,  barley  reaches  thirty-nine  per 
cent. — a  larger  proportion  than  in  any  other  part  of  the  world ; — - 
wheat,  thirty-four  per  cent;  oats,  ten;  potatoes,  ten;  and  corn 
only  four.  Sixty  bushels  of  barley  to  the  acre  is  not  uncommon ; 
and  a  single  acre  has  produced  one  hundred  and  forty-nine 
bushels.  Canning  says  shrewdly,  that  nothing  is  so  false  as  facts, 
except  figures ;  but  this  statement  is  on  trustworthy  authority. 

The  root  vegetables  thrive  wonderfully.  There  have  been 
exhibited  at  the  agricultural  fairs,  an  onion  weighing  seventy- 
seven  ounces  avoirdupois,  twenty-two  inches  in  circumference; 
a  turnip,  twenty -six  pounds;  a  tomato,  twenty -six  inches  in 
circumference ;  cabbage-heads,  forty-three  to  fifty -three  pounds  ; 
a  watermelon,  sixty -five  pounds ;  a  red  beet,  one  hundred  and 
eighteen  pounds, -five  feet  long  by  one  foot  in  diameter;  a  Squash, 
two  hundred  and  sixty-five  pounds. 

Fruit  trees  are  twice  as  large  as  in  our  middle  States  at  the 
same  age.  In  one  year  the  cherry  has  grown  fourteen  feet  high ; 
the  pear  ten  feet ;  and  the  stem  of  the  peach  tree  three  inches  in 
diameter.  One  peach  tree  in  a  year  from  the  bud  grew  eight  feet 
high,  with  a  trunk  circumference  of  eight  and-a-half  inches.  A 
peach  twig  a  foot  long,  stuck  in  the  ground  in  1858,  bore  fruit  the 
next  year.  The  apple  tree  bears  in  the  second  or  third  year  from 
the  bud;  and  apples  have  been  exhibited  weighing  two  and-a« 
half  pounds.  They  lack  the  sharp,  agreeable  flavor  which  New 
England  and  Oregon  impart.  But  the  enormous  peaches,  the 
rich  pears,  the  strawberries  and  grapes,  which  grow  with  incredi 
ble  profusion,  have  a  peculiarly  rich  and  generous  taste  that  lin 
gers  lovingly  on  the  palate. 

The  California  fruits  and  vegetables  for  the  full-page  engraving 
in  this  volume,  were  hastily  collected  in  the  Pacific  market,  San 
Francisco,  on  the  twenty-eighth  of  September.  They  are  not  unusual 
specimens;  but  can  be  duplicated  in  all  the  great  fruit  markets 
any  morning  during  six  months  of  the  year.  The  human  figure, 
nearly  six  feet  high,  was  included  in  the  photograph  to  show  the 
relative  size  of  the  vegetable  productions.  The  two  black  beets 
on  each  side  rest  upon  the  floor,  and  their  tops,  standing  erect, 
would  nearly  reach  the  man's  head.  They  were  dug  before  attain 
ing  full  growth,  and  weighed  thirty-eight  and  fifty-nine  pounds. 


45-±          MAMMOTH  PRODUCTIONS  OF   CALIFORNIA.    [1865. 

One  of  the  pears  exhibited  (a  Duchess  d'Angouleme)  weighs 
thirty  ounces ;  specimens  of  the  same  variety  weighing  seventy 
ounces  have  been  raised.  The  apples  (Gloria  Mundi)  weigh  from 
twenty-three  to  twenty-nine  and-a-half  ounces.  The  corn  has 
twenty -four  rows  of  kernels  to  the  ear,  with  four  ears  on  a  stalk. 
The  bunch  of  grapes  (Tokay)  weighs  eleven  pounds.  There  is  a 
sunflower  blossom  twenty -four  inches  across  the  face ;  an  egg 
plant  fruit  twenty -six  inches  in  circumference ;  a  cabbage  fifty- 
four  inches  in  circumference;  quinces  weighing  thirty  ounces 
each  ;  large  radishes  and  sweet  potatoes. 

Grapes  fresh  from  the  vines  are  found  on  California  tables  from 
July  till  December.  Fruit  at  breakfast  is  one  of  the  most  delicious 
customs  of  the  country.  The  morning  meal  begins  with  grapes, 
figs,  peaches,  strawberries,  and  pears.  Of  the  first,  one  never 
tires.  I  ate  grapes  statedly  at  breakfast,  luncheon,  and  dinner, 
and  incidentally  at  intervals  through  the  day  and  evening. 

In  the  orchard  of  Wilson  Flint,  near  Sacramento,  I  saw  hun 
dreds  of  pear  trees,  seven  years  from  the  graft,  bearing  sixty 
pounds  of  fruit  each.  Fruits,  vegetables,  and  grain  are  invariably 
sold  by  weight.  I  noticed  a  cluster  of  six  pears  growing  on  one 
twig,  almost  as  close  as  they  could  be  packed  in  a  fruit  dish,  and 
each  nearly  as  large  as  a  man's  fist.  This  was  the  twenty -sixth  of 
August ;  and  the  graft  which  bore  them  was  put  in  during  the  pre 
vious  April — only  four  months  before.  It  was  the  most  wonderful 
sight  of  my  entire  journey.  Jonah's  gourd  ceases  to  be  the  sym 
bol  of  miraculous  growth. 

In  the  same  orchard  hundreds  of  fig  trees  bent  under  rich  pur 
ple  fruit.  Olives,  pomegranates,  lemons,  and  apricots  grow  in 
various  sections.  The  State  also  contains  about  twenty -five  hun 
dred  orange  trees.  When  six  or  eight  years  old  they  produce 
fruit,  and  continue  bearing  for  half  a  century.  At  fourteen  years 
they  yield  from  one  thousand  to  three  thousand  oranges  per  tree. 
They  blossom  early  in  spring  ;  the  fruit  is  ripe  the  next  February, 
and  if  left  on  the  branches  keeps  until  May. 

Bunches  of  grapes  weighing  six  pounds  may  be  found  in  almost 
any  market ;  and  a  bunch  of  seventeen  pounds  was  exhibited  at 
one  fair.  Two  hundred  varieties  are  cultivated ;  the  most  delicate 
vines  from  the  Atlantic  slope,  Europe,  Asia,  and  Africa,  flourish 


1865.]  ORANGES    VINEYARDS    AND    WINES.  455 

in  this  kindly  soil.  The  fruit-growers  begin  to  export  large  quan 
tities  of  raisins  and  preserved  figs.  With  the  completion  of  the 
railroad,  they  expect  to  supply  eastern  markets  daily  with  fresh 
Pacific  grapes  forwarded  in  close  cars,  of  dry,  even  temperature. 

The  grape  crop  never  fails,  and  averages  double  the  yield  per 
acre  of  the  vineyards  of  Ohio,  France,  and  Germany.  The 
Catawba,  though  smaller  than  some  varieties,  excels  all  others  in 
flavor.  The  vineyards  of  the  State  cover  upward  of  ten  thousand 
acres.  The  largest,  in  Sonoma,  contains  one  hundred  acres.  The 
wine  product  is  between  one  and  two  millions  of  gallons  annually. 
Many  varieties  of  still  and  sparkling  are  produced.  Angel 
ica  and  Muscatel  are  sweet,  still  wines — the  latter  very  rich,  and 
with  a  flavor  like  Tokay.  The  port  and  the  hock  are  sometimes 
excellent.  California  champagne,  claret,  sherry,  wine-bitters,  and 
brandies  are  largely  produced.  But  in  general  the  people 
themselves  prefer  imported  wines  ;  and  often  their  native  varieties 
taste  new,  raw,  and  *  heady.'  They  are  better  in  New  York  than 
in  San  Francisco.  The  long  sea  voyage  makes  them  smoother ; 
and  age  gives  them  flavor.  Wine  making  is  too  young  here  to  be 
perfect.  Manufacturers  of  experience  in  Ohio,  Missouri,  and 
European  vineyards,  have  not  yet  learned  how  to  treat  the 
most  familiar  grapes  modified  by  this  climate  and  soil.  But  all 
these  difficulties  will  be  overcome ;  one  day  this  will  be  a  very 
leading  branch  of  commerce,  and  the  wines  of  California  will 
excel  those  of  all  other  countries  on  the  globe. 

Among  valueless  vegetable  productions,  the  cactus  impresses 
strangers,  by  the  beauty  of  its  flowers,  its  many  varieties,  and  its 
enormous  size.  Frequently  it  grows  to  the  hight  of  eight 
feet. 

The  Wells-Fargo  express,  which  combines  the  mail,  banking, 
and  express  busirTess,  and  has  about  one  hundred  offices,  pervades 
every  railway,  steamboat,  and  stage  route,  and  every  town  and 
mining  camp  on  the  Pacific  coast.  It  illustrates  the  superiority 
of  private  enterprise.  When  its  messengers  run  on  the  very 
steamer,  or  the  same  railway  carriage,  with  those  of  the  United 
States  mail,  three-fourths  of  the  business  men  intrust  it  with  their 
letters,  which  are  invariably  delivered  in  advance  of  the  Govern 
ment  consignments.  In  San  Francisco,  Mr.  Colfax  dropped  a 


456 


AN    IMMENSE    PRIVATE    ENTERPRISE. 


[1865. 


note  into  the  mail,  making  an  engagement  for  the  next  week  with 
a  gentleman  residing  a  mile  from  our  fyotel.  Three  days  after  the 
appointed  time  his  friend  appeared  and  explained : 

'I  have  but  just  re 
ceived  your  letter. 
Why  didn't  you  send, 
it  by  Wells-Fargo?' 

To  found  and  sys 
tematize  a  great  enter 
prise  like  this,  ex 
tending  over  half  a 
continent,  new,  thinly- 
settled,  with  poor 
means  of  communica 
tion,  along  routes  in 
fested  by  robbers  and 
Indians,  requires  more 
capacity  than  to  'run' 
the  Government  of 
the  United  States  in 
ordinary  times.  I 

asked  the  gentleman  who  has  chiefly  conducted  it : 
'  What  new  lessons  has  your  experience  taught  you  ?' 
His  answer  pleasantly  confirms  one's  faith  in  human  nature  : 
1  It  has  taught  me  to  trust  men.'1 

The  uniform  charge  for  delivering  letters  is  twelve  and  a-half 
cents.  The  company  carries  them  only  in  stamped  envelopes, 
thus  paying  a  Government  tax  of  three  cents  on  every  half-ounce. 
Yet  the  post  office  department  constantly  endeavors  to  suppress  it. 
Twenty-five  years  ago,  when  postage  was  twenty-five  cents  for 
distances  over  four  hundred  miles,  and  Hall's  express  carried 
letters  from  Boston  to  New  York  for  five  cents,  the  authorities 
did  their  utmost  to  stop  him ;  but  with  Daniel  Webster  for  his 
counsel,  he  defeated  them  and  hastened  the  era  of  cheap  postage. 

When  the  operations  of  the  Wells-Fargo  company  were  con 
fined  to  the  Pacific  coast  and  the  steamers  between  San  Francisco 
and  New  York,  it  transported  twenty-three  hundred  thousand  let 
ters  annually.  Two  and  a-quarter  millions  of  writers  paid  nine 


CALIFORNIA     CACTUS. — FROM    A  PHOTOGRAPH. 


1865.]  THE    SAN    FRANCISCO    NEWSPAPERS.  457 

and  a-half  cents  extra  not  to  have  their  letters  pass  through  the 
Circumlocution  Office  1  What  stronger  proof  of  the  folly  of  Gov 
ernment's  conveying  letters?  It  might  with  as  much  propriety  sell 
groceries,  convey  heavy  freights,  or  deliver  washing.  Abolish  the 
post  office  department.  Leave  this,  like  other  carrying  trade,  open 
to  private  competition,  and  the  mail  service  of  the  United  States 
would  be  performed  fifty  per  cent,  cheaper  and  one  hundred  per 
cent,  better  than  it  is  to-day. 

The  San  Francisco  Alia  *  California  and  the  Evening  Bulletin 
print  from  seven  thousand  to  nine  thousand  daily,  and  earn  from 
twenty  thousand  to  forty  thousand  dollars  per  annum.  Their 
terms  (in  specie)  are,  eighteen  dollars  per  year  for  the  dailies; 
five  dollars  for  the  weeklies;  single  copies,  ten  cents.  Adver 
tising  rates  are  very  high.  The  Sacramento  Union,  also  success 
ful,  is  one  of  the  very  best  newspapers  on  the  continent.  The 
Alta  once  cleared  eighty  thousand  dollars  in  ten  months.  It  is 
the  pioneer  journal,  the  Californian,  from  which  it  sprang,  first 
appearing  in  Monterey,  on  the  15th  of  August,  1846,  immediately 
after  the  hoisting  of  the  American  flag  in  northern  California. 
The  next  year  it  removed  to  San  Francisco,  which  then  contained 
less  than  five  hundred  inhabitants.  Its  first  issue  was  about  as 
large  as  two  pages  of  this  book,  and  was  printed  upon  brown 
wrapping  paper.  It  was  put  in  type  in  an  old  Spanish  office ; 
and  the  fact  that  there  is  no  W  in  the  Castilian  compelled  the 
clumsy  manufacture  of  that  letter  from  two  Y's.  Part  of  its  con 
tents  were  in  Spanish  and  part  in  English.  The  following  is  a 
literal  copy  of  an  explanatory  paragraph  from  the  editor: 

1  OUR  ALPHABET. — Our  type  is  a  Spanish  font  picked  up  here  in  a  cloister,  and  has 
no  W's  [W's]  in  it,  as  there  is  none  in  the  Spanish  alphabet.  I  have  sent  to  the 
sandwich  Islands  for  this  letter,  in  the  mean  time  we  must  use  two  Y's.  Our  paper 
at  present  is  that  used  for  wrapping  segars ;  in  due  time  we  will  have  something 
better :  our  object  is  to  establise  a  press  in  California,  and  this  we  shall  in  all  proba^ 

*  When  American  forces  captured  the  country,  it  was  in  two  divisions — Baja  (lower) 
and  Alta  (upper)  California.  After  a  few  years  the  Americanized  portion  became 
known  throughout  the  world  simply  as  California  and  the  adjective  was  dropped. 
But  the  peninsula  is  still  known  as  '  Lower  California.'  The  word  '  California '  wa* 
first  applied  by  Cortez.  He  obtained  it  from  Spanish  novels  of  his  day,  in  one  of 
which  it  was  the  name  of  a  heroine,  and  in  another,  of  an  imaginary  island. 


458  A    BIT    OF    HISTORICAL    RECORD.  [1865. 

bility  be  able  to  accomplish.  The  absence  of  my  partner  for  the  last  three  months 
and  my  buties  as  Alcaldd  here  have  dedrived  our  little  paper  of  some  of  those  atten 
tions  which  I  hope  it  will  hereafter  receive.  WALTER  COLTON.' 

I  am  indebted  to  Albert  S.  Evans,  of  San  Francisco,  for  the 
sixth  issue  of  the  California^  September  19th,  1846,  which  says: 

'  California  is  now  lost  forever  to  Mexico ;  not  a  shadow  of  hope  can  remain  that 
she  can  recover  a  foot  of  the  Territory,  and  we  do  not  believe  that  one  inhabitant  in 
ten,  really  regrets  the  result.' 


CIRCULAR. — You  are  hereby  advised  that  war  exists  between  the  United  States 
of  North  America  and  Mexico,  and  are  cautioned  to  guard  against  an  attack  from 
Mexican  privateers,  and  all  vessels  under  the  Mexican  flag. 

'  The  Territory  of  California  has  been  taken  possession  of  by  the  forces  under  my 
command,  and  now  belongs  to  the  United  States,  and  you  will  find  safe  anchorage 
and  protection  in  the  harbor  of  San  Francisco  during  any  season  of  the  year. 

<R.  P.  STOCKTON, 

i  Commodore  and  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Naval  Forces  of  the  United  States  in  the 
Pacific  Ocean,  and  Governor  and  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Territory  of  California.' 

The  first  piece  of  domestic  gold  in  the  United  States  is  said 
to  have  been  found  in  Meadow  creek,  North  Carolina,  in  1799. 
Now,  our  annual  product  of  the  precious  metals  reaches  about  one 
hundred  and  ten  millions  of  dollars  annually;  from  eighty  to 
ninety  millions,  gold ;  the  residue  silver.  Eighty-five  per  cent,  of 
the  gross  amount  is  from  quartz  mining. 

In  the  early  days  of  California,  before  the  establishment  of  the 

Government  Mint,  much  gold  of 
private  coinage  circulated,  to  meet 
absolute  business  wants.  Many 
gold  bars,  '  slugs,'  and  five,  ten, 
twenty,  and  fifty  dollar  coins  were 
issued  in  1849  50.  These  coinages 
have  now  disappeared,  and  are  rare, 
even  as  curiosities.  The  illustra- 

AN  EARLY  CALIFORNIA  COIN.         tion  is  an  exact  representation  of 

one  of  the  'slugs,'  issued  from  the 

United  States  assay  office  in  1850.     Having  no  alloy  in  its  com 
position,  it  was  very  soft,  and  wasted  rapidly  by  wearing  down. 


1865.]  HALF    AN    HOUR    IN    THE    MINT.  459 

The  United  States  Branch  Mint  is  one  of  the  most  interesting 
features  of  San  Francisco.  The  crude  metal,  received  in  bars,  is 
melted  and  mingled,  two  parts  of  silver  with  one  of  gold ;  then 
poured  into  water,  where  it  cools  in  fragments  like  suddenly- 
cooled  lead,  or  popped  corn.  It  is  thus  broken  into  fine  pieces, 
that  acids  may  work  upon  it  more  readily — as  fire  kindles  shav 
ings  and  chips  more  easily  than  solid  sticks  of  wood.  The  nitric 
acid  turns  the  silver,  copper,  and  lead  into  liquid ;  but  leaves 
the  gold  a  dirty  brown  powder.  We  saw  a  rough  pile  of  this, 
looking  as  valueless  as  brick-dust;  but  worth  three  hundred  thou 
sand  dollars.  Next,  the  gold  has  the  water  squeezed  out  by  an 
immense  weight ;  is  molded  into  bars ;  and  rolled  into  long,  thin, 
narrow  strips.  From  these  the  round  coins  are  cut,  then  milled, 
stamped  on  both  sides,  and  corrugated — all  by  machinery.  Me 
tallic  fingers  seize  each  piece  and  place  it  under  the  stamps,  where 
it  is  subjected  to  a  pressure  of  one  hundred  and  sixty  tons. 

Another  machine  counts  the  coins,  picking  out  five  dollars 
worth  of  coppers  in  one  minute,  with  perfect  exactness.  Here 
are  scales,  too,  which  will  weigh  one  four-thousandth  of  a  grain. 

Our  coins  of  precious  metal  contain  nine  parts  of  gold  and  silver 
to  one  of  copper.  Common  salt  and  zinc  are  used  in  hardening 
the  liquid  silver  and  separating  it  from  lead  and  copper.  At  night, 
the  employees  all  leave  their  working  clothing  in  the  mint.  When 
these  garments  are  worn  out,  they  are  burned,  and  the  ashes 
washed,  to  save  the  gold.  The  water  in  which  the  workmen  wash 
their  hands  is  also  carefully  drained  off  for  the  same  purpose. 
Through  these  two  sources  about  fifteen  thousand  dollars  per 
annum  is  saved.  Practically,  there  is  no  loss.  In  1864,  upon 
a  coinage  of  twenty-one  millions,  the  deficit  was  only  two  thou 
sand  dollars,  though  at  the  rates  allowed  by  Government  for 
wastage  it  would  have  reached  seventy  thousand. 

For  the  excitement  of  strangers,  the  workmen  pour  a  glowing, 
red-hot  stream  of  melted  gold  into  their  hands  for  a  moment,  and 
then  empty  it  out,  without  receiving  a  burn.  The  perspiration 
protects  them,  as  plumbers  thrust  their  fingers,  wet  with  cold 
water,  into  liquid  lead,  and  smelters,  into  molten  iron. 

Until  the  completion  of  the  Pacific  railway  no  man  living  can 
comprehend  the  vastness  and  variety  of  our  mineral  resources 


460  THE    GREAT    PACIFIC    RAILWAY.  [1865. 

between  British  Columbia  and  Mexico,  and  stretching  from  the 
eastern  wall  of  the  Eocky  Mountains  to  the  Pacific. 

The  road  will  protect  our  military  interests.  Whenever  we  can 
transport  men  and  munitions  from  the  Mississippi  valley  to  San 
Francisco  in  one  week  the  Monroe  Doctrine  will  enforce  itself. 

It  will  revolutionize  trade  and  finance.  Travelers  in  every 
country  will  require  exchange  on  New  York  instead  of  London. 
It  will  give  our  continent — 'its  Atlantic  front  looking  upon 
Europe  and  its  Pacific  front  looking  upon  Asia ' — the  carrying 
trade  of  the  world.  The  light,  costly  silks,  teas,  and  spices  of  the 
Orient,  rich  in  barbaric  pearl  and  gold,  will  seek  this  route  for  our 
markets  and  for  the  old  world. 

It  will  strengthen  us  socially.  The  bane  of  new  countries  is  the 
absence  of  the  restraining  and  humanizing  influence  of  women. 
The  oldest  States  have  a  surplus  of  women ;  the  newest  suffer  for 
them.  With  cheap,  easy,  rapid  communication  the  laws  of  de 
mand  and  supply  will  correct  the  evil. 

It  will  strengthen  us  politically.  There  is  infinite  pathos  in 
hearing  everybody  on  the  Pacific  coast,  from  children  to  gray- 
haired  men,  speak  of  the  East  as  *  home.'  Still,  at  the  outset  of 
the  great  rebellion,  a  large  party  favored  a  Pacific  republic.  It 
was  promptly  put  under  foot ;  and  California,  debarred  from  send 
ing  her  iron,  sent  her  gold  to  the  front.  She  gave  more  money 
proportionately  to  the  great  charities  of  the  war  than  any  other 
State.  The  Pacific  coast  contributed  to  the  Sanitary  Commission 
alone  almost  a  million  and-a-half  of  dollars. 

Great  indeed  must  be  the  vitality  of  the  republic  when  the 
warm  blood  from  its  heart  pulsates  to  these  remote  extremities ; 
yet  we  cannot  afford  to  repeat  the  experiment. 

'  Mountains  interposed 
Make  enemies  of  nations  who  had  else, 
Like  kindred  drops,  been  mingled  into  one.' 

Do  away  with  isolation ;  cut  through  the  mountains !  This  en 
chanter's  wand  will  make  New  York  acknowledged  queen  of  cities 
and  San  Francisco  her  eldest  sister — this  magic  key  will  unlock 
our  Golden  Gate,  and  send  surging  through  its  rocky  portals  a 
world-encircling  tide  of  travel,  commerce,  and  Christian  civilization. 


1865.]    EXCURSION    ON    THE    PACIFIC    RAILROAD.          461 


CHAPTER    XXXVIII. 


EX-GOVERNOR  LELAND  STANFORD,  president  of  the  Central 
Pacific  Bailroad,  and  the  other  gentlemen  engaged  in  building  it, 
were  kind  enough  to  organize  a  pleasant  excursion  that  I  might 
see  the  progress  of  their  great  work.  By  the  Congressional  char 
ters,  this  company  constructing  the  line  from  Sacramento  Cali 
fornia  eastward,  and  the  Union  Pacific  working  from  Omaha 
Nebraska  westward,  will  each  own  and  run  as  much  road  as  it 
can  build ;  so  both  are  engaged  in  a  hard  race  for  Salt  Lake. 

Each  corporation  receives  in  Government  bonds  sixteen  thou 
sand  dollars,  thirty-two  thousand  dollars,  or  forty-eight  thousand 
dollars  for  every  mile  of  road  finished — sixteen  thousand  where 
the  route  is  level  and  grading  light ;  thirty-two  thousand  among 
the  foot-hills,  and  forty -eight  thousand  in  the  Rocky  Mountains 
and  the  Sierra  Nevadas. 

Each  company  also  acquires  absolutely  thirteen  thousand  acres 
of  land  per  mile  along  its  line ;  and  is  allowed  to  issue  first  mort 
gage  bonds  in  equal  amount  to  the  Government  subsidy — the 
morjtgage  upon  which  these  company-bonds  are  based  having  pri 
ority  as  a  lien  upon  the  property  of  the  road  over  the  mortgage 
given  to  the  Government  itself.  In  addition,  the  California  corpo 
ration  has  a  donation  of  nearly  half  a  million  dollars  in  bonds  from 
San  Francisco,  and  thirty  acres  of  valuable  land,  in  the  city  limits, 
from  Sacramento.  No  other  enterprise  in  our  country  was  ever  so 
magnificently  endowed.  Ultimately  the  company  expect  to  Jay 
their  track  to  Oakland,  just  across  the  bay  from  San  Francisco;  at 
present  the  western  terminus  is  Sacramento.* 

*  San  Francisco  to  Salt  Lake  City  by  steamer,  railway  and  stage  routes:  eight  hun 
dred  and  fifty  miles.     Sacramento  to  summit  of  Sierras,  by  railway  route :  one  hundred 
and  five  miles.    Summit  to  Salt  Lake  City :  five  hundred  and  twenty  miles. 
30 


462         TWELVE    THOUSAND    CHINESE    LABORERS.    [1865 

Ten  miles  east  of  Sacramento  the  track  is  only  one  hundred  and 
ninety  feet  above  sea-level ;  at  the  crossing  of  the  summit  it  is 
seven  thousand  feet.  A  peculiarly  favorable  route,  where  no  ele 
vation  is  lost  after  the  climbing  begins,  alone  enables  it  to  rise 
nearly  seven  thousand  feet  in  ninety -five  miles. 

The  highest  grade  (one  hundred  and  sixteen  feet  to  the  mile) 
just  equals  the  sharpest  ascent  on  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  road. 
But  it  extends  only  three  miles ;  and  no  other  grade  will  exceed 
one  hundred  and  six  feet  to  the  mile. 

The  cars  now  (1867)  run  nearly  to  the  summit  of  the  Sierras.  At  the 

time  of  my  visit  the  terminus  was 
Colfax,  fifty-five  miles  east  of 
Sacramento.  Thence  we  took 
horses  for  twelve  miles.  Upon 
this  little  section  of  road  four 
thousand  laborers  were  at  work 
— one-tenth  Irish,  the  rest  Chi 
nese.  They  were  a  great  army 
laying  siege  to  Nature  in  her 
strongest  citadel.  The  rugged 
mountains  looked  like  stupendous 
LELAND  STANFORD.  ant-hills.  They  swarmed  with  Ce- 

.  lestiala,  shoveling,  wheeling,  cart 
ing,  drilling  and  blasting  rocks  and  earth,  while  their  dull,  moony 
eyes  stared  out  from  under  immense  basket-hats,  like  umbrellas. 
At  several  dining-camps  we  saw  hundreds  sitting  on  the  ground, 
eating  soft  boiled  rice  with  chop-sticks  as  fast  as  terrestrials  could 
with  soup-ladles.  Irish  laborers  received  thirty  dollars  per  month 
(gold)  and  board ;  Chinese,  thirty-one  dollars,  boarding  themselves. 
After  a  little  experience  the  latter  were  quite  as  efficient  and  far 
less  troublesome. 

The  Hudson  Bay  Company  in  its  palmy  days  was  compelled  to 
import  laborers  from  the  Sandwich  Islands ;  and  without  the  Chi 
nese  the  California  end  of  the  great  national  thoroughfare  must 
have  been  delayed  for  many  years.  Twelve  thousand  are  now 
employed  upon  it. 

Cape  Horn  is  a  huge  mountain  around  whose  side  the  track 
winds  upon  a  little  shelf  seven  hundred  feet  above  valley  and 


1865.]     HORRIBLE  FATE  OF  THE  DONNER  PARTY.          463 

stream-bed.  At  the  west  end  of  the  road  redwood  trees  are  used 
for  ties;  in  the  mountains,  spruce  and  tamarack. 

At  Gold  Run  a  six-horse  coach  awaited  us.  Our  day's  ride  was 
up  a  graded  winding  road,  commanding  an  endless  sweep  of  dense 
forest  and  grand  mountain,  among  graceful  tamaracks,  gigantic 
pines  and  pyramidal  firs. 

Immense  barns  beside  the  mountain  houses  attest  the  length 
and  severity  of  the  winters.  At  many  points  we  found  the  sur 
veyors  awaiting  our  coach  to  receive  their  letters  and  newspapers. 
The  American  pioneer  can  dispense  with  his  dinner,  but  not  with 
his  mental  pabulum. 

We  reached  the  summit  two  hours  after  dark,  when  its  wild, 
gloomy  grandeur  is  far  more  impressive  than  by  day.  It  is 
boundless  mountain  piled  on  mountain — unbroken  granite,  bare, 
verdureless,  cold  and  gray. 

Through  the  biting  night  air  we  were  whirled  down  the  eastern 
slope  for  three  miles  to  Donner  lake,  blue,  shining,  and  sprinkled 
with  stars,  while  from  the  wooded  hill  beyond  glared  an  Indian 
fire  like  a  great  fiendish  eyeball.  The  lake  is  an  exquisite  body 
of  water,  though  less  impressive  than  Tahoe ;  and  the  reflections 
of  snowy  peak,  pine  forest,  clear  sky,  and  minute  twig  and  leaf 
in  its  depths,  seem  almost  miraculous.  The  illustration,  as  faith 
ful  to  nature  as  artist  and  engraver  can  make  it,  is  far  less  vivid 
than  the  original  photograph.  In  that,  concealing  the  boat,  fig 
ures  and  trees  in  the  foreground-water,  it  is  almost  impossible  to 
decide  which  side  up  the  picture  should  be — which  are  the  real 
hills,  snow  and  forest,  and  which  the  reflection. 

Donner  lake  is  named  from  the  Donner  party  of  sixty  Illinois 
emigrants,  en  route  for  Oregon,  snowed  in  here  in  1846.  Know 
ing  nothing  of  the  climate,  they  attempted  to  cross  too  late,  and 
were  imprisoned  by  inexorable  winter.  The  logs  of  one  of  their 
cabins;  and  stumps,  twelve  feet  high,  of  trees  which  they  cut  off  at 
the  snow-surface,  are  still  seen.  Many  ate  human  flesh ;  and  about 
forty  perished  from  starvation.  Several  yet  live  to  tell  their  hor 
rible  story. 

We  slept  at  the  Lake  House ;  and  spent  the  next  day  with  the 
surveyors  among  the  precipitious  granite  ledges,  and  visiting  Lake 
Angela,  a  lovely  little  mountain  gem.  It  was  like  picnicing  at  the 


464 


ENGULFED    RY    A    SNOW-SLIDE. 


[1865. 


North  Pole;  for  snow  lined  the  higher  ravines  and  icicles  hung 
from  the  water-tanks  on  the  stage-road.    Here  during  the  previous 


-  ^^-^." 

— -T^^^H 


winter,  two  laborers 
were  engulfed  by 
a  snow-slide.  See 
ing  it  approach  they 
stepped  behind  a 
tall  rock;  but  it 
buried  them  fifty 
feet  deep.  In  spring 
their  bodies  were 
found  standing  up 
right,  with  shovels  in  their  hands. 

For  several  miles  the  track  must  be  roofed  to  slide  off  the  snow. 
There  will  be  less  than  a  mile  of  tunneling,  all  near  the  crest. 
The  cost  of  the  most  expensive  mile  of  road  is  estimated  at  three 


CHINAMEN   BUILDING 


PACIFIC    HAILROAD   IX   THE   SIER}  A 
NEYALAS. 


1865.]        ESTABLISHING    THE    RAILWAY    ROUTE. 


465 


hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars.  From  the  summit  the  line 
descends  to  the  desert  by  the  valley  of  the.  Truckee;  and  is  easy 
of  construction  to  Salt  Lake  City.  Thus  fur  the  work  is  admira 
bly  done,  comparing  favorably  with  our  best  eastern  railways. 

On  the  second  evening  in  our  tavern  parlor,  there  was  a  long 
earnest  conference,  to  determine  upon  the  route  near  the  sum 
mit.  The  candles  lighted  up  a  curious  picture.  The  carpet  was 
covered  with 
maps,  profiles 
and  diagrams, 
held  down  at 
the  edges  by 
candle-sticks  to 
keep  them  from 
rolling  up.  On 
their  knees  were 
president,  direc 
tors  and  survey 
ors,  creeping 
from  one  map 
to  another,  and 
earnestly  dis 
cussing  the 
plans  of  their 
magnificent  en 
terprise.  The 
ladies  of  our  ex 
cursion  were 
grouped  around 
them,  silent  and 

intent,  assuming  liveliest  interest  in  the  dry  details  ^about  tunnels, 
grades-,  excavations,  'making  hight'  and  '  getting  down.'  Outside 
the  night- wind  moaned'  and  shrieked,  as  if  the  Mountain  Spirit 
resented  this  invasion  of  his  ancient  domain. 

Reluctantly  leaving  the  pleasant  party,  I  accompanied  Governor 
Blaisdel  twenty  miles  over  a  rough  mountain  trail,  to  Lake  Tahoe, 
where,  in  obedience  to  a  telegram,  the  little  steamer  waited  to  take 
us  to  the  Glenbrook  House.  Tahoe  forever  !  Our  country  has  no 


SUMMIT-CROSSING    OF    SIERRA   NEVADAS,    NEAR   DOXNER   LAKE. 


466     EMPTY  TRAVELERS  FEARLESS  OF  ROBBERS.    [1865. 

other  lake  so  beautiful.  Its  bosom  glitters  with  dazzling  dia 
monds;  its  depths  photograph  the  most  delicate  tracery  of  hill, 
tree  and  cloud.  Even  the  shadows  of  the  faint  surface-ripples,  are 
clearly  penciled  upon  the  bottom,  an  exquisite,  trembling,  shining 
net-work. 

Eeports  of  coach  robberies  and  Indian  hostilities  came  from  the 
eastward ;  so  I  telegraphed  to  a  Salt  Lake  friend :  'Are  the  stage- 
routes  to  Montana  and  Idaho  open,  and  reasonably  safe  ?'  He  re 
sponded  :  '  Both  open,  and  perfectly  safe  for  passengers  going 
north,  who  are  supposed  to  have  no  money.'  This  described  my 
own  condition  so  exactly  that  I  started  by  the  first  coach. 

Again  I  spent  several  days  at  Virginia  Nevada,  that  wonderful 
metropolis  of  the  sage-brush.  There  as  everywhere,  mining  inter 
ests  had  suffered  from  wild  speculations  and  reckless  expenditures. 
It  was  difficult  to  find  a  business  man  in  California  who  had  not 
lost  in  Washoe  stocks.  An  acquaintance  of  mine  sunk  seventy- 
five  thousand  dollars  in  three  weeks ;  but  he  could  afford  it  and 
said  he  counted  the  lesson  cheap.  One  Virginia  company,  which 
spent  a  hundred  thousand,  dollars  in  erecting  a  mill,  received  all 
the  money  back  with  interest  in  twelve  months.  Their  superin 
tendent  realized  that  mining  is  business,  not  gambling;  conducted 
it  as  men  manufacture  paper  and  sell  dry  goods — not  as  they  spec 
ulate  in  stocks  o/  play  monte. 

Many  new  inventions  are  offered ;  but  the  practical  miners  are 
ten  years  ahead  of  the  books  and  the  professors  of  natural  science. 
The  amateur  angler  comes  from  the  city,  with  intricate  extension- 
rod,  patent  fly,  water-proof  clothing,  silver  brandy-flask,  and  all 
sporting  theories  in  his  head,  but  stands,  the  entire  day,  without 
persuading  a  single  fish  ;  while  the  unlettered  country  boy,  bare 
footed,  in  torn  trowsers,  with  birchen  rod,  line  of  twine,  and  plain 
hook  and  worm,  secures  a  splendid  string  of  trout  in  half  an  hour. 
So  the  chemist  experiments  in  his  laboratory  and  the  geologist 
makes  learned  reports  upon  mines ;  but  the  men  who  feed  the 
stamps  originate  the  valuable  improvements  in  machinery,  and 
those  who  wield  the  pick  find  and  recognize  the  real  silver  lodes. 

A  resident  was  pointed  out  to  me,  who  within  five  years  had  paid 
half  a  million  dollars  interest  upon  borrowed  money,  and  now  was 
not  worth  a  penny !  In  the  mining  regions  outside  of  California 


1865.]      FELLOW    PASSENGERS    ON    THE    DESERT. 


467 


money  on  the  best  security  commands  from  two  to  six  per  cent,  a 
month — often  compounded  monthly  !  If  these  rates  do  not  ruin 
any  country,  it  must  be  so  rich  that  ruin  is  impossible  to  ruin  it — 
just  as  Scotchmen,  according  to  Dr.  Johnson,  are  so  hardy  that 
they  cannot  be  starved. 

From  Virginia  I  continued  eastward  by  coach,  first  having  my 
hair  cropped  and  beard  shaven  close  enough  for  a  votary  of  the 
Prize  Ring.  This  lessens  the  disagreeableness  of  the  alkaline  dust 
which  envelops  horses  and  drivers,  vehicle  and  inmates.  A  ride 


REFLECTION    IN   DONNEB  LAKE,    SIERRA   NEVADAS. 

in  its  thick  clouds  is  like  a  cold  bath ;  one  shrinks  from  it  at 
first;  but  fairly  in,  experiences  a  grim  satisfaction. 

Among  our  passengers  were  several  New  York  gentlemen,  bound 
for  Montana,  who,  deterred  by  Indian  difficulties  from  coming 
overland  direct,  had  taken  the  long  isthmus  route  to  San  Francisco, 
and  were  now  going  to  Bannack  via  Salt  Lake  City.  A  pleasant 


468  ONCE    MOKE    IN    SALT    LAKE    CITY.  [1865, 

young  fellow  on  board,  just  from  college,  started  around  the 
world,  but  in  the  steamer  lost  at  gambling  the  money  his  careful 
father  had  provided ;  so  he  too  had  turned  toward  Montana,  to 
retrieve  his  fortunes. 

Spending  but  one  day  in  Austin,  I  was  unable  to  visit  the 
*  Cortez '  mining  region  on  the  north,  or  the  '  Twin  Kiver,'  and 
'  Silver  Peak '  on  the  south.  They  all  promise  richly.  We  entered 
Utah  while  the  mountains  were  glorified ;  and  white  clouds  seemed 
to  rest,  not  against  the  dome  of  the  sky,  but  in  front  of  it,  very 
near  us,  permitting  us  to  gaze  under  and  far  beyond  them,  into  its 
blue  depths.  One  long  bank  lay  from  peak  to  peak,  like  a  bridge 
of  ice.  The  ashen  ground  of  the  desert  was  intersected  with  long 
slender  streaks  of  light — the  sun  shining  through  narrow  crevices 
in  the  clouds.  The  sunset  was  the  finest  I  ever  saw ;  and  the  twi 
light  a  miracle  of  gold  and  purple,  pink  and  pearl,  all  turning  at 
last  to  sullen  lead. 

Gladly  we  reached  Salt  Lake  City,  to  enjoy  baths,  New  York 
newspapers,  and  fresh  fruit.  Here  as  in  California,  delicious 
grapes  and  peaches  abound.  The  apples  are  better  flavored  than 
in  the  Golden  State.  Almost  our  entire  continent,  from  the  Ohio 
valley  to  the  Pacific  seems  adapted  to  the  vine. 

During  this  visit  in  September  and  October,  I  found  a  good  deal 
of  bitterness  toward  me  existing  among  zealous  Mormons,  caused 
by  the  return  of  my  Tribune  letters.  I  had  written  frankly,  but  in 
no  unkindly  spirit.  I  could  say  nothing  except  ill  of  polygamy; 
and  that  excited  their  indignation.  Some  of  the  young  Saints 
too  were  naturally  wroth  because  I  had  spoken  of  the  women  as, 
homely.  At  an  out-door  political  meeting  one  night,  they  per 
sisted  in  shouting  for  me  with  suspicious  zeal  and  iteration.  As 
I  chanced  to  be  visiting  a  friend  a  mile  away,  their  vocal  exercise 
was  love's  labor  lost.  The  next  day  it  was  confessed  that  they 
had  attempted  to  allure  me  upon  the  rostrum  for  the  pleasure  of 
hissing  me,  and  possibly  of  pelting  me.  If  the  young  democracy 
of  Salt  Lake  mean  to  have  a  personal  quarrel  with  every  traveler 
who  describes  the  feminine  Saints  as  uncomely,  they  are  not 
likely  to  suffer  for  want  of  employment. 

Porter  H.  Kockwell,  reputed  one  of  the  leading  Danites  or 
destroying  angels  of  the  church,  also  confused  me  in  his  mind 


1865.]    A   'DESTROYING  ANGEL7   ON  JOURNALISTS.         469 


with  Fitz  Hugh  Ludlow,  who  had  passed  through  two  years 
before,  and  given  an  unflattering  description  of  him  for  the 
Atlantic  Monthly.  Some  one  told  Porter,  or  he  dreamed  it,  that  / 
had  characterized  him  as  the  murderer  of  one  hundred  and  fifty 
men;  and  he  significantly  remarked,  that  if  I  had  said  it  he 
believed  he  would  make  it  one  hundred  and  fifty -one !  He  finally 


concluded  it  a  mistake, 

and    contented     himself 

with  complaining  to  me 

that  he  had  been  cruelly 

slandered     by    Ludlow, 

and    afterward   while   in 

his  cups,  assuring  me  that  he  would  kill  any  journalist  who  should 

publish   falsehoods  about   him.      He  is  a   man  of  medium  size, 

noticeable  for  his  long  black  hair,  which  he  wears  parted  in  the 

middle  and  hanging  upon  the  shoulders.     In  general  he  is  said  to 


THE   DONNEB   PARTY    IN    1846. 


470 


THE    SALT    LAKE    POETESS. 


[1865. 


be  hospitable  and  kind;  and  his  manners  mild  and  courteous. 
At  the  time  of  my  visit  he  was  keeping  a  station  on  the  overland 
mail  route.  He  is  believed  to  be  the  person  who,  years  ago, 
attempted  the  life  of  Governor  Boggs  of 
Missouri.  Boggs  had  used  the  State 
troops  to  expel  the  Mormons.  One  night 
while  sitting  in  his  library  in  Jefferson 
City,  a  rifle  ball  from  the  outside 
wounded  him,  and  he  very  narrowly 
escaped  death.  It  was  the  only  attempt 
to  assassinate  a  public  officer  which 
stained  American  history  until  the  mur 
der  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

Can  any  good  thing  come  out  of  Naza 
reth?  Utah,  with  its  utter  isolation  and 
iron  social  and  spiritual  limitations,  would 
seem  the  last  place  in  the  world  for  men 
tal  development.  But  the  poet  once  born, 
no  Medusa  can  strike  him  dumb.  The 
warblings  of  a  young  songstress  of  Salt 
Lake  City  were  now  beginning  to  excite 
attention,  from  the  peculiar  and  adverse  circumstances  of  their 
origin.  A  native  of  New  York,  at  eight  years  of  age  she  was  car 
ried  to  Utah,  where  she  had  since  resided,  almost  without  books, 
society  or  other  opportunity  for  culture.  She  was  wholly  self- 
educated;  and  sustained  herself  by  teaching  an  infant  school. 
Her  father  was  a  rigid  Mormon,  a  day  laborer  in  humblest  life. 
Her  *  Funeral  of  Lincoln,'  written  in  a  disloyal  community  on  the 
very  day  of  receiving  telegraphic  news  of  the  assassination,  pic 
tures  vividly  the  first  paralyzing  grief  which  swept  over  the 
country : 

Every  home  and  hall  was  shrouded, 

Every  thoroughfare  was  still; 
Every  brow  was  darkly  clouded, 

Every  heart  was  faint  and  chill. 
0,  the  inky  drop  of  poison 

In  our  bitter  draught  of  grief! 
O,  the  sorrow  of  a  nation 

Mourning  for  its  murdered  chief! 


THE   SALT   LAKE   POETESS. 

(Mrs.  Sarah  Carmichael 
Williamson.) 


1865.]  A    FEW    OF    HER    EARLY    STANZAS.  471 

Strongest  arms  were  closely  folded, 

Most  impassioned  lips  at  rest ; 
Scarcely  seemed  a  heaving  motion 

In  the  nation's  wounded  breast. 
Tears  were  frozen  in  their  sources, 

Blushes  burned  themselves  away; 
Language  bled  through  broken  heart-threads, 

Lips  had  nothing  left  to  say. 

Yet  there  was  a  marble  sorrow 

In  each  still  face  chiseled  deep, 
Something  more  than  words  could  utter, 

Something  more  than  tears  could  weep. 
O,  the  land  he  loved  will  miss  him, 

Miss  him  in  its  hour  of  need ! 
Mourns  the  nation  for  the  nation, 

Till  its  tear-drops  inward  bleed. 

This  bold  flight  of  fancy,  all  will  appreciate  who  are  familiar 
with  the  great  mountains  of  Utah,  torn  and  furrowed  to  the  heart, 
and  sometimes  cleft  asunder  from  head  to  foot : 

THE  ORIGIN  OF  GOLD. 

The  Fallen  looked  on  the  world  and  sneered ; 
'I  can  guess,'  he  muttered,  '  why  God  is  feared; 
For  the  eyes  of  mortals  are  fain  to  shun 
The  midnight  heaven,  that  hath  no  sun. 
I  will  stand  on  the  hight  of  the  hills  and  wait 
Where  the  Day  goes  out  at  the  western  gate ; 
And  reaching  up  to  its  crown  will  tear 
From  its  plumes  of  glory  the  brightest  there ; 
With  the  stolen  ray  I  will  light  the  sod, 
And  turn  the  eyes  of  the  world  from  God.' 

He  stood  on  the  hight  when  the  sun  went  down, 

He  tore  one  plume  from  the  Day's  bright  crown ; 

The  proud  beam  stooped  till  he  touched  its  brow, 

And  the  print  of  his  finger  is  on  it  now; 

And  the  blush  of  its  anger  forevermore 

Burns  red  when  it  passes  the  western  door! 

The  broken  feather,  above  him  whirled, 

In  flames  of  torture  around  him  curled ; 

And  he  dashed  it  down  on  the  snowy  hight 

In  broken  masses  of  quivering  light. 

Ah,  more  than  terrible  was  the  shock 

Where  the  burning  splinters  struck  wave  and  rock ! 


472 


PAH    RANAGAT    SILVER    REGION. 


[1865, 


The  green  earth  shuddered,  and  shrank,  and  paled; 
The  wave  sprang  up  and  the  mountain  quailed. 
Look  on  the  hills ;  let  the  scars  they  hear 
Measure  the  pain  of  that  hour's  despair. 

The  Fallen  watched  while  the  whirlwind  fanned 
The  pulsing  splinters  that  plowed  the  sand; 
Sullen  he  watched  while  the  hissing  waves 
Bore  them  away  to  the  ocean  caves; 
Sullen  he  watched  while  the  shining  rills 
Throbbed  through  the  hearts  of  the  rocky  hills. 
Loudly  he  laughed :  •  Is  the  world  not  mine? 
Proudly  the  links  of  its  chain  shall  shine, 
Lighted  with  gems  shall  its  dungeon  be ; 
But  the  pride  of  its  beauty  shall  kneel  to  me.' 
That  splintered  light  in  the  earth  grew  cold, 
And'  the  diction  of  mortals  hath  called  it  'Gold.' 

A  little  volume  of  the  lady's  earlier  poems,  recently  published 
in  San  Francisco,  has  been  very  favorably  re 
ceived.  The  author,  never  in  sympathy  with, 
the  Mormon  church,  surreptitiously  left  Salt 
Lake  in  1866,  and  is  now  the  wife  of  an 
estimable  ex-surgeon  of  our  army,  who  formed 
her  acquaintance  while  on  duty  at  Camp  Doug 
las,  two  miles  from  the  Mormon  capital. 

In  the  Latter-day  Saints'  metropolis  I  heard 
much  of  the  Pah   Eanagat    (Indian — 'water 
A  SECTION  OP  COLO-      melon,')  silver  region,  three  hundred  and  fifty 
RADO  CANYOX.          miles  to  the  southwest,  and  two  hundred  miles 
due  south  of  Austin.     It  lies  in  the  southeast 
corner  of  Nevada,  and  is  now  connected  with  Salt  Lake  City  by 
a  tri-weekly  mail  coach.     Its  climate,  permitting  work  through  the 
entire  year,  is  a  manifest  advantage  over  the  mountain  regions  of 
Idaho,  Montana,  central  Nevada  and  Oregon,  where  the  winters  are 
often  very  severe.     It  is  so  remote  that  only  a  few  mills  are  yet  in 
operation ;  but  the  veins  open  very  richly,  and  many  believe  the 
district  will  equal  the  great  Comstock  Lode. 

Thus  far,  miners  obtain  their  supplies  from  neighboring  Mormon 
settlements;  but  Pah  Ranagat  promises  well  for  farming  purposes, 
though  it  lies  in  the  valley  of  the  Colorado  of  the  West,  which, 
according  to  Horace  Greeley,  'offers  larger  and  more  favorable 


1865.] 


COLORADO    RIVER    AND    BIG    CANYON. 


473 


opportunities  for  suc 
cessful  starvation 
than  any  other  sec 
tion  of  equal  area  on 
the  surface  of  the 
globe — not  excepting 
the  Great  Sahara !' 

The  Colorado  river 
rises  on  the  west  side 
of  the  Eocky  Moun 
tains  in  a  thousand 
sources,  from  ten 
thousand  to  twelve 
thousand  feet  above 
the  sea.  Its  bed  is  a 
deep  natural  trench. 
It  has  cut  down  the 
high  plateau  over 
which  it  first  ran, 
through  the  lime 
stone,  through  the 
sandstone  and  far 
into  the  granite.  Its 
current,  now  shallow 
and  insignificant,  once 
filled  this  vast  gorge. 


LIG   CANYON'    OF   COLORADO    lilVEK.    AK1Z 


474  THE    NOVELTIES    OF    ARIZONA.  [1865. 

The  Big  Canyon  is  above  the  head  of  navigation.  It  crosses 
three  degrees  of  longitude ;  by  the  windings  of  the  river  it  is  three 
hundred  miles  long.  For  this  entire  distance,  the  walls  rise  al 
most  perpendicularly  from  three  thousand  to  six  thousand  feet ; 
and  the  width  of  the  gulf  at  the  top  is  often  less  than  its  depth. 

Three  hundred  years  ago,  Spanish  explorers  declared  the  walla 
of  the  canyon  three  leagues  high.  Only  a  few  Indians,  Mexican 
trappers  and  American  explorers  have  seen  it ;  but  those  can  find 
no  language  extravagant  enough  to  describe  its  wonderful  scenery. 
The  gorge  is  worn  down  by  water — not  torn  open  by  natural  con 
vulsions.  The  top  is  an  even  plateau — not  mountain  peaks  as  in 
Yosemite.  Our  illustration  is  from  the  mouth  of  Diamond  river. 

According  to  some  authorities  Arizona,  signifies  'land  of  the 
sun.'  Less  poetic  lexicographers  assert  that  it  means  '  sand-hills/ 
This  Territory,  twice  as  large  as  the  State  of  New  York,  is  in 
habited  by  about  fifty  thousand  Indians,  all  fierce  and  hostile,  ten 
thousand  Mexicans  and  twelve  hundred  Americans.  Its  gold  and 
silver  resources  are  very  great :  but  only  three  or  four  quartz-mills 
(in  all,  running  less  than  fifty  stamps,)  are  in  operation.  Protect 
ing  the  miners  against  the  savages  is  almost  impossible. 

The  Territory  is  composed  of  sand  wastes,  with  some  green  val 
leys  ;  but  enthusiastic  residents  declare  it  the  best  grazing  country 
in  the  world.  It  abounds  in  ruins  of  ancient  cities  of  stone,  usu 
ally  upon  hills  now  far  from  water,  or  near  dry  stream-beds. 
Since  the  establishment  of  missions  by  Jesuits — who  have  the 
earliest  trustworthy  records — the  Pueblos,  to  whom  these  ruins  are 
attributed,  have  greatly  diminished  in  numbers,  and  lost  many  of 
their  early  arts,  including  the  curious  manufacture  of  feather  cloth. 

In  addition  to  Big  Canyon,  the  country  contains  hundreds  of 
grand  mountain  scenes.  The  Cabazin  Pass  between  San  Berna- 
dino  and  La  Paz,  is  famed  for  noises  more  unearthly  than  those 
which  disturbed  the  thane  of  Cawdor.  They  resemble  sobs, 
whoops,  and  yells  of  agony.  Indian  tradition  refers  them  to  the 
perturbed  spirits  of  a  savage  band  once  imprisoned  and  slaugh 
tered  there ;  but  prosaic  science  attributes  them  to  desert  winds 
whistling  and  moaning  through  the  canyon. 


1865.]  FEOM    SALT    LAKE    TO    MONTANA.  475 


CHAPTER     XXXIX. 

FROM  Salt  Lake  City,  Virginia  capital  of  Montana,  lies  four 
hundred  and  seventy-five  miles  north ;  Boise  capital  of  Idaho, 
four  hundred  and  fifty  miles  northwest.  The  road  is  like  the 
letter  Y;  at  Bear  river,  eighty  miles  out,  the  main  stem  forks,  the 
right  stroke  leading  to  Montana  and  the  left  to  Idaho. 

I  started  from  the  City  of  the  Saints  early  in  October ;  but  already 
the  white  plumes  of  King  Winter  waved  from  every  neighboring 
mountain.  Most  passengers,  if  provided  with  feather  pillows, 
slumber  quietly  and  refreshingly  night  after  night,  while  the 
vehicle  is  in-  motion ;  and  comprehend  how  the  Esquimaux  and 
some  other  nations  sleep  from  choice  in  a  sitting  posture.  But  for 
a  very  few  exceptional  organizations  this  night- travel  causes  'stage- 
craziness.'  Passengers  suffering  from  it  have  sometimes  fled  from 
the  coach  to  perish  in  the  desert. 

For  hours  along  the  Great  Salt  Lake,  we  viewed  its  shining 
mirror,  broken  by  purple  mountains  of  island,  and  bordered  by 
violet  peaks,  spotted  with  white,  gauzy  clouds.  We  passed  thrifty 
Mormon  villages  of  dull  brown  adobe  houses,  with  orchards,  and 
shading  cottonwoods,  and  streets  watered  by  artificial  streams ; 
and  valley  farms  with  broad  fields,  great  shocks  of  corn  and  huge 
stacks  of  barley.  The  Indian  warrior  indicates  the  number  of 
scalps  he  has  taken,  by  the  notches  on  his  tomahawk.  The  Latter- 
day  Saint  advertises  the  number  of  wives  he  has  secured  by  the 
doors  to  his  house.  With  the  poorer  settlers  rival  spouses  must 
occupy  the  same  room;  but  in  well-to-do  families  each  has  her  own 
separate  little  tenement. 

Morrisville  was  built  by  Mormon  followers  of  Morris,  a  strange 
fanatic,  who  out-Brighamed  Brigham.  Believing  that  the  world 
with  all  its  people  except  themselves  was  about  to  be  destroyed, 


476 


ON    WATERS    OF    THE    PACIFIC. 


[1865. 


he  taught  them  to  seize  the  horses,  cattle  and  grain  of  their  neigh 
bors,  as  belonging  to  the  chosen  of  the  Lord.  It  was  '  a  part  of 
their  religion.'  But  in  1862,  the  Mormons  marched  an  army 
against  the  schismatics,  who  fought  them  bravely  in  a  pitched 
battle.  The  prophet  fell  with  a  bullet  in  his  brain  ;  several  of  his 
followers,  including  women  and  children  were  killed,  and  all  the 
rest  driven  out.  Let  Brigham  ponder  the  lesson.  'He  who  will 
not  be  ruled  by  the  rudder  must  be  ruled  by  the  rock.' 

At  the  most  lonely  farm  dwellings  multitudes  of  children,  bear 
ing  'shocks  of  yellow  hair  like  the  silken  floss  of  the  maize,'  attest 
the  presence  of  the  Peculiar  Institution  in  this  prolific  country. 
In  general  though  not  over-embarrassed  with  clothing  they  are 
hardy,  robust,  and  of  excellent  physical  development. 

At  Bear  river  our  daylight  breakfast  is  shared  by  a  coach-load 
of  passengers  from  Montana  and  another  from  Idaho,  with  whom 

we  exchange  the  latest 

.^^~^^m^^f^^^m^^^*^^^^^_,      news.       Thence     our 

road  winds  pleasantly 
in  grassy*  valleys  and 
across  miry  little 
streams ;  for  bridges 
come  only  with  civil 
ization.  We  meet 
many  creaking  ox- 
wagons,  with  dingy 
covers,  bound  for  'the 
States.'  From  the 

Missouri  river  to  Utah,  Montana  or  Idaho,  a  team  can  make  only 
one  round  trip  per  year,  as  cattle  cannot  travel  on  the  plains  in 
winter.  We  see  no  dwellings  except  low  adobe  stations,  with 
huge  stacks  of  winter  hay,  cut  from  wild  grass  of  the  valleys. 

^Crossing  a  low,  bare  divide,  we  leave  the  great  basin  of  L^tah 
behind,  and  are  in  Idaho,  on  waters  of  the  Pacific.  After  dark,  in 
the  twinkling  of  an  eye,  whack !  goes  our  coach — over  upon  one 
side.  We  have  capsized  in  a  mud-hole ;  but  all  escape  un 
harmed.  The  station -stable  hard  by  has  no  house,  but  a  little  stall 
for  cooking  and  sleeping,  wherein  the  driver  is  partitioned  off  from 
his  mules. 


SIX   WIVES. 


1865.]  HANGED    UPON    HIS    OWN    GALLOWS.  477 

All  the  next  forenoon  we  ride  along  the  clear  Snake.  This  dim, 
crooked  artery  of  the  great  desert's  heart,  fifteen  hundred  miles 
long,  must  be  Butler's  original  reptile,  which 

'  Wires  in  and  wires  out, 


Leaving  the  reader  still  in  doubt, 
Whether  the  Snake  which  made  this  track 
Was  going  south  or  coming  back.' 

The  Indian  name,  *  Sho-sho-wee '  or  winding  stream,  is  far  better 
than  ours.  It  is  the  river  of  desolation.  Unrelieved  by  forests  or 
green  banks  for  nearly  the  entire  length,  it  is  a  natural  ditch  deep 
in  the  earth,  filled  with  clear  water,  and  faintly  fringed  with  scat 
tering  willows  and  cotton  woods. 

The  white  man  keeping  the  first  ferry  has  taken  a  rather  comely 
squaw  for  the  sole  mistress  of  his  heart  and  log-cabin.  As  we 
pass,  she  sits  upon  the  ground  sewing  moccasins,  diversifying  her 
labor  by  frequent  imitations  of  the  first  act  of  mother  Eve  after  her 
creation,  according  to  Milton's  verse — admiring  the  reflection  of 
her  own  features  in  the  water. 

Passing  in  view  of  the  Three  Tetons  (women's  breasts)  and  other 
exquisite  peaks;  and  toiling  over  long  sand  wastes,  we  cross 
the  divide  of  the  Eocky  Mountains  from  Idaho  and  the  Pacific 
slope,  into  Montana  among  the  tributaries  of  the  Missouri. 

Down  in  the  deep  gulch  of  Grasshopper  creek  we  reach  the  city 
of  Bannack,  named  from  a  savage  tribe.  Here,  in  1861,  began  the 
first  settlement  of  Montana.  The  diggings  often  yielded  fifty 
dollars  per  day  to  the  man ;  but  like  most  gulch  mines,  were  soon 
exhausted.  In  flush  times  the  city  had  two  thousand  people.  Now 
it  is  a  dreary  succession  of  straggling,  empty  log  houses,  overlooked 
by  a  gallows,  which  has  outlived  many  tenants.  Even  the  county 
sheriff  who  built  it,  like  a  second  Haman  was  finally  hanged  upon 
it,  for  highway  robbery  and  murder.  Rich  quartz  lodes  now 
opened  are  giving  the  town  a  new  lease  of  life. 

Successively  crossing  Eattlesnake  creek,  Beaver-head  river, 
named  from  a  rock  mountain  mentioned  by  Lewis  and  Clark, 
faintly  resembling  the  head  of  a  beaver,  and  still  another  tributary 
of  the  Missouri  bearing  the  euphonious  appellation  of  the  *  Stink 
ing-water,'  five  days  and  four  nights  from  Salt  Lake  City,  we  reach 

31 


4:78        VIRGINIA    MONTANA    AND    ALDER    GULCH.     [1865. 

Virginia.  This  young,  lively  metropolis  of  Montana,  must 
not  be  confounded  with  its  Nevada  namesake,  a  thousand  miles  to 
the  southwest.  It  was  settled  in  1862,  after  Bannack  gave  out. 
Now  it  has  about  four  thousand  people.  Environed  by  mountain 
crests  dotted  with  a  few  lonely  cedars,  it  lies  like  a  huge  serpent,  a 
crooked,  irregular  strip  of  low  log  houses,  winding  for  nine  miles 
down  Alder  creek.  Many  of  these  cabins  are  deserted.  The 
American  miner  is  a  migratory  animal,  who  will  always  leave 


A  PROLIFIC  COUNTRY. 


five  dollars  per  day  for  the 
possibility  of  twenty,  especially 
when  the  new  diggings  are  very 
"remote  and  inaccessible.  Alder  gukh  has  yielded  millions  of 
dollars;  and  for  its  length — thirteen  miles — was  the  richest  gold 
deposit  ever  found.  Now,  it  is  completely  cut  to  pieces  ;  honey 
combed  with  shafts,  ridged  with  ditches,  and  disemboweled  with 
tunnels.  A  few  miners  still  wash  the  gold  from  the  brown  earth. 
The  heart  of  the  town  is  within  a  hundred  yards  of  the  diggings. 
In  flush  times,  streets  were  thronged ;  stores  choked  with  a  stream 


1865.]  SCENES    DURING    THE    FLUSH    TIMES.  479 

of  commerce ;  sidewalks  monopolized  by  auctioneers  hoarsely  cry 
ing  horses,  oxen,  mules,  wagons  and  household  goods.  Drinking 
saloons,  whose  name  was  legion,  were  densely  crowded.  Theaters, 
which  always  spring  up  in  mining  regions,  were  closely  packed. 
At  hotels,  beds  were  hardly  obtainable  for  love  or  money. 
Gaming-tables  were  musical  with  clinking  coin  and  shining  with 
yellow  gold.  Hurdy-gurdy  houses,  where  whisky  was  sold  at 
fifty  cents  a  drink  and  champagne  at  twelve  dollars  per  bottle, 
were  filled  with  visitors,  ranging  from  judges  to-  blacklegs,  in 
every  costume,  from  broadcloth  to  buckskin.  And  all  this,  in  a 
town  less  than  one  year  old,  in  the  heart  of  the  Eocky  Mountains, 
a  thousand  miles  from  everywhere !  For  Montana  is  the  remotest 
Territory  of  the  United  States — farthest  both  from  New  York 
and  San  Francisco,  the  two  cities  which  will  yet  contend  for  the 
mastery  of  the  world. 

Virginia's  trade  is  still  heavy,  and  the  business  streets  always 
lively.  The  buildings  are  of  logs,  lumber  and  granite,  with  the 
wooden  signs  of  many  irrepressible  Jews  overhanging  the  plank 
sidewalks.  The  currency  is  gold  dust..  In  small  purchases,  hand 
ling  and  weighing  it  involves  a  waste  of  about  twenty -five  per 
cent.  Every  morning,  little  boys  with,  shovels  and  pans  gather  up 
and  wash  out  the  sweepings  from  the  stores,  and  sometimes  realize 
five  dollars  apiece. 

At  the  leading  hotel  I  found  wooden  benches  serving  for  chairs. 
The  fare,  though  with  no  fruit  and  few  vegetables,  was  palatable ; 
but  the  lodgings  were  open  to  the  objection  of  that  Illinois  traveler, 
who,  promised  an  excellent  apartment  which  Douglas  had  just 
left,  found  two  men  in  each  of  three  bedsr  and  one  in  the  fourth. 

1  Landlord,'  said  he,  'this  room  is  good,  and  I  should  feel  hon 
ored  to  sleep  in  one  so  lately  occupied  by  Senator  Douglas ;  but 
I  will  not  sleep  with  the  whole  democratic  party !' 

I  visited  the  theater  to  see  the  '  Lady  of  Lyons.'  The  admis 
sion-fee  was  one  dollar  and-a-half.  The  drop-curtain  was  of 
cambric ;  the  stage,  as  large  as  a  very  small  bedroom ;  five  tallow 
candles  served  for  foot-lights ;  and  the  orchestra  consisted  of  four 
performers.  Many  spectators  wore  revolvers;  but  the  rough 
crowd  was  wholly  decorous,  in  deference  to  the  half-dozen  wives 
and  sisters  present. 


480  AN    HOUR    IN    THE    HURDY-GURDY.  [1865. 

I  found  the  hurdy-gurdy  more  popular.  At  one  end  of  the  long 
hall,  a  well-stocked  bar,  and  a  monte  bank  in  full  blast ;  at  the 
other,  a  platform  occupied  by  three  musicians;  between,  many 
lookers-on,  with  cigars  and  meerschaums.  The  orchestra  leader 
shouted : 

*  Take  your  ladies  for  the  next  dance  P 

Half-a-dozen  swarthy  fellows  fresh  from  the  diggings,  selected 
partners  from  the  tawdry,  bedizened  women  who  stood  in  waiting. 
After  each  dance  the  miners  led  their  partners  to  the  bar  for 
whisky  or  champagne ;  then  after  a  short  pause,  another  dance ; 
and  so  the  sorry  revelry  continued  from  nine  o'clock  until  nearly 
daylight,  interrupted  only  by  two  fights.  For  every  dance  each 
masculine  participant  paid  one  dollar,  half  going  to  his  partner, 
and  half  to  the  proprietor.  This  latter  functionary,  who  was 
dealing  monte,  with  revolver  at  his  belt,  assured  me  that  his  daily 
profits  averaged  one  hundred  dollars.  Publicly,  decorum  was 
preserved ;  and  to  many  miners,  who  had  not  seen  a  feminine  face 
for  six  months,  these  poor  women  represented  vaguely  something 
of  the  tenderness  and  sacredness  of  their  sex. 

The  mountain  road  from  Virginia  to  Helena  (one  hundred  and 
twenty -five  miles  northward)  is  now  traversed  by  the  mail  coaches 
from  Salt  Lake  City.  It  has  witnessed  some  of  the  best  staging  in 
the  United  States.  In  1865,  when  it  was  new  and  little  worked, 
coaches  frequently  ran  the  whole  distance — equal  to  one  hundred 
and  sixty  miles  of  good  roads — during  daylight;  and  sometimes  in 
fourteen  hours.  The  route  crosses  the  main,  or  Jefferson,  Fork  of 
the  Missouri,  upon  a  log  bridge  two  hundred  feet  in  length.  The 
river  shines  along  a  beautiful  valley,  between  mountains  pine- 
covered  and  snow-clad. 

We  pass  the  log  ranches  of  settlers,  with  huge  hay -stacks,  and 
fields  rich  in  wheat  and  barley,  or  overgrown  turnips  and  pota 
toes.  Despite  frosts  every  month  in  the  year,  Montana  has  good 
agricultural  capacity.  Small  grains,  root  vegetables,  and  the 
hardy  fruits  produce  abundantly.  Some  irrigation  is  required. 
Thus  far  grasshoppers  have  injured  the  crops.  Wheat  and  barley 
yield  twenty  to  forty  bushels  per  acre;  oats  thirty  to  fifty;  and  po 
tatoes  from  one  hundred  to  three  hundred  bushels.  All  vegetables 
are  excellent  and  grow  to  enormous  size.  It  seems  far  north  for 


1865.] 


STANDING    ASTRIDE    THE    MISSOURI 


481 


cereals ;  but  in  the  British  Possessions — still  higher  latitude — the 
Hudson  Bay  Company  has  raised  successfully  every  product  of 
our  northwestern  States.  Some  even  believe  that  the  true  wheat- 
growing  region  of  our  continent  lies  north  of  the  Upper  Mis 
souri. 

On  our  right,  in  a  deep  canyon  of  rugged  mountains,  is  the  junc- 


YIBGINIA   CITY,    MONTANA. 

tion  of  the  Jefferson,  Gallatin  and  Madison,  whose  blended  waters 
form  the  *  Great  Muddy.1  In  Minnesota,  a  little  wooden  bridge 
spans  the  Mississippi.  Here,  one  can  fling  a  pebble  across  the 
Missouri.  Still  higher,  among  mountain  springs,  a  soldier  of  the 
Lewis  and  Clark  expedition,  which  had  spent  a  year  ascending 
from  St.  Louis,  thanked  God  that  he  was  able  to  stand  astride  of 
the  largest  river  in  the  world ! 

We  enter  White-tailed-deer  Canyon,  twenty  miles  long,  with 
grand  and  startling  views,,  ever  shifting,  like  scenes  in  a  theater. 
Immense  granite  bowlders,,  some  as  large  as  a  railway-car,  lie  upon 
and  against  each  other,,  m  all  positions,  as  if  the  gods  had  hurled 
vast  rocks  in  deadly  battle..  Some  walls  of  the  gorge  are  gray 
Stone;  others-  clothed  in.  firs  and  pines  of  dark  green  and  purplish 


482  A    VISIT    TO    HELENA.  [1865. 

brown  sprinkled  with  yellow  cotton  woods.  Looking  back  through 
the  canyon's  mouth,  we  see  snowy  .mountains  glorified  by  the  dy 
ing  sun,  like  battlements  of  a  celestial  city.  Through  the  oppo 
site  gateway,  some  peaks  are  obscured  by  slabs  of  sullen  leaden 
clouds,  bridging  the  gulfs  between  them;  others  are  robed  in 
drapery  white  as  milk  and  soft  as  down. 

Whirling  along  slippery  banks  and  sideling  roads,  and  at  Dustan's 
station  passing  a  spring  ten  inches  in  diameter  which  gushes  boiling- 
hot  from  the  hill-side,  we  reach  Helena.  This  city  is  the  legiti 
mate  successor  of  Virginia,  as  is  Virginia  of  Bannack.  It  has  now 
outgrown  the  anxious  stage,  which  comes  to  all  new  settlements, 
and  in  which  every  arriving  stranger  is  instantly  asked  : 

1  Well  sir,  how  do  you  like  our  town?' 

Helena  is  about  three  years  old,  with  a  population  of  four 
thousand.  Its  two  principal  streets  are  in  the  form  of  a  cross. 
At  my  visit  it  did  not  boast  a  hotel.  Now  it  has  several,  with 
pleasant  residences,  ample  business  blocks,  and  a  thriving  trade. 

It  is  the  supply  point  for  the  rich  placer  mines  of  the  Black- 
foot  country  and  other  northern  gulches.  I  have  never  been  in 
any  other  region  where  gold  dust  in  the  hands  of  working  miners 
circulated  freely  in  so  large  quantities.  Several  nuggets,  worth 
from  two  to  four  thousand  dollars  have  been  taken  out.  The  value 
of  the  one  shown  in  our  illustration  is  two  thousand  and  seventy- 
five  dollars.  The  relative  proportions  of  the  nugget  and  the  hand 
have  been  carefully  preserved  from  the  photograph. 

Single  claims  have  produced  one  thousand  dollars  per  day. 
These  are  very  unusual  cases;  but  Montana  is  the  richest  pla 
cer  mining  region  ever  discovered  in  the  United  States.  Thus 
far  its  quartz  veins  promise  to  average  better  than  those  of  any 
other  section.  As  yet,  they  are  little  developed  ;  and  the  season 
of  1867  opens  with  less  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  stamps  in 
operation,  owing  to  the  remoteness  and  inaccessibility  of  the 
country. 

About  one-fifth  of  the  supplies  come  overland  from  California  and 
Oregon ;  one-fifth  overland  from  Kansas  and  Nebraska ;  and  three- 
fifths  up  the  Missiouri  from  St.  Louis  to  Fort  Benton.  This  is  the 
nominal  head  of  navigation,  twenty  miles  below  the  Great  Falls : 
one  hundred  and  forty  miles  from  Helena,  and  .two  hundred  and 


1865.]         CURIOUS    PAINTING    OF    FORT    UNION.  483 

sixty-five  from  Virginia.  But  ascending  to  this  point  is  possible 
only  during  a  few  summer  weeks,  for  very  light-draft  steamers. 
Many  boats  are  compelled  to  stop  below.  Freights  from  St.  Louis 
cost  from  eight  to  fifteen  cents  per  pound ;  passage,  two  hundred 
dollars.  Steamers  are  from  thirty  to  seventy  days  on  the  way. 

Virginia  is  five  thousand  feet  above  sea-level ;  Helena  forty -two 
hundred;  Fort  Benton  twenty-six  hundred.  The  Missouri  at 
Benton  is  insignificant,  giving  no  hint  of  the  grand  system 
of  streams  flowing  to  the  southern  gulf,  two  hundred  rivers  in 
one,  which  afford  fifty  thousand  miles  of  steamboat  navigation. 
In  the  fall,  thousands  of  returning  miners  float  down  the  Missouri 
from  near  Helena  (passing  around  the  Great  Falls  by  a  portage  of 
ten  miles)  in  fleets  of  Mackinaw  flat-boats — accomplishing  the 
distance  to  Omaha  in  about  thirty  days. 

Communication  with  the  head  waters  of  the  Columbia  is  easy, 
the  navigation  of  Pen  d'Oreille  lake  and  river  greatly  reducing 
the  wagon  travel.  Much  immigration  comes  from  the  west  coast. 

Fort  Union,  four  hundred   miles  below  Benton,  is   near   the 
mouth  of  the  Yellowstone.     This  old  trading  post  is  well  known 
among  trappers  and  merchants  of  the 
early  days.      It  stands  on  the  bank  of 
the  clear  Missouri,   a  stockaded  fort 
with  two  towers;  the  United  States  flag 
flying ;  Indian  lodges  in  the  rear ;  little 
cottonwood  groves  in  ravines  on  either 
side;  and  light  batteaux  upon  the  shin 
ing  stream  in  front.     I  am  indebted  to 
Major    Culbertson,    an     old     Indian 
trader,  for  an  interesting  view  of  the 
fort  in  its  palmy  days,  painted  upon      TWO-THOOSAND-DOLLAR 
bed- ticking,  by  an  unskilled  employ 4 

of  the  American  Fur  Company,  with  such  brushes  and  colors  as 
he  could  obtain  in  the  wilderness. 

On  my  return  from  Helena  to  Virginia  the  weather  was  in 
tensely  cold,  with  deep  snow  obstructing  the  precipitous  roads  and 
transforming  the  pine  boughs  into  exquisite  white  coral.  Upon 
one  bleak  mountain  in  a  polar  air,  we  met  another  coach  bearing 
eleven  shivering  passengers,  and  were  compelled  to  exchange 


484  PITCHED    FKOM    A    STAGE   'COACH.  [1865 

horses  with  it.  We  found  the  cold  intolerable ;  but  the  cheery 
drivers  merely  remarked  that  this  was  'lightning.' 

The  driver  is  invariably  a  character ;  always  intelligent,  often 
entertaining  and  witty,  never  any  respecter  of  persons.  There  is 
a  story  of  one,  with  a  clergyman  upon  the  box  beside  him,  who 
swore  long  and  loud  at  his  balking  horses. 

1  My  friend,7  expostulated  the  preacher,  'don't  swear  so.  Ee- 
member  Job ;  he  was  severely  tried,  but  never  lost  his  patience.7 

'  Job— Job  ?'  pondered  Jehu.     '  What  line  did  he  drive  for  ?7 

Once,  with  the.  governor  of  a  Territory,  I  spent  a  night  at  a 
lonely  desert  station.  His  excellency  craved  permission  to  sleep 
on  the  driver's  bunk. 

'Certainly,'  was  the  unabashed  reply,  'if  you  haven't  any  gray- 
backs  about  you !' 

Night  overtook  us  at  a  log  station  with  the  inevitable  bar,  gold- 
scales,  and  great  fireplace.  Against  the  wall  hung  a  native  potato 
weighing  three  and  a-half  pounds.  Why  will  so  many  call  this 
American  vegetable  the  '  Irish  potato  ?'  We  slept  soundly  in  our 
buffalo  robes  upon  the  plank  floor.  Two  of  our  passengers  never 
lost  sight  of  their  heavy  valises ;  they  were  bringing  down  forty 
thousand  dollars  in  gold  dust  from  the  mines. 

The  next  morning  we  were  upon  a  sideling  mountain  road, 
coated  with  ice  buried  under  two  feet  of  light  snow.  Our  six 
horses  were  upon  a  full  run,  to  take  the  coach  over  before  it 
should  slide  down  the  hill.  Suddenly  one  wheel  struck  a  hidden 
rock.  The  vehicle  narrowly  escaped  capsizing;  and  I  did  not  es 
cape  being  pitched  from  the  driver's  box.  The  blankets  and 
robes  enveloping  me,  fortunately  slipped  off  without  entangle 
ment;  and  I  was  projected  fully  twenty-five  feet  through  the  air, 
describing  a  section  of  a  circle.  As  John  Phoenix  used  to  say, 
that  was  the  only  '  description '  of  the  affair  I  should  ever  have 
been  able  to  give,  but  for  a  friendly  snow-bank  cushioning  the 
broad  flat  rock  upon  which  I  alighted  head  foremost.  The  driver 
seemed  to  enjoy  the  joke  until  ten  minutes  later,  when  a  similar 
rock  upon  his  side  sent  him  flying  against  the  brake-handle,  where 
he  hung,  like  Mohammed's  coffin,  until  he  found  his  lost  legs  and 
abandoned  seat.  Some  fatal  accidents  occur  in  winter  upon  these 
"unworked  roads. 


1865.]- 


COSTLY    NEWSPAPER    PUBLISHING. 


485 


Montana  had  but  one  newspaper — the  Virginia  weekly  Post.  It 
was  about  half  the  size  of  the  Tribune.  Subscription  price :  seven 
and-a-half  dollars  per  annum,  specie ;  single  copies,  fifty  cents. 
When  the  publishers  received  their  year's  supply  of  printing  paper 
in  May,  the  freight  from  St.  Louis  cost  them  but  fifteen  or  twenty 
cents  a  pound. 
But  more  than 
once  they  were 
compelled  to  get 
it  by  express  at 
one  dollar  and 
ninety  cents  (gold) 
per  pound.  Ob 
taining  a  specimen 
book  from  a  Phil 
adelphia  type 
foundry  cost  them 
sixty  dollars. 

Some  of  their  job 
work,  in  colors, 
was  excellent. 
Before  the  mails 
began,  a  New  York 
semi-weekly  jour 
nal  cost  its  sub 
scriber  one  dollar 
per  copy,  for  ex 
press  charges  from  A  MAN  OF  NERVE. 
Salt  Lake  alone. 

The  Territory  had  only  four  post-offices.  In  summer  the  tri 
weekly  mail  brought  letters  from  New  York  in  twenty -five  days. 
During  winter  snows  the  time  might  reach  two  or  three  months. 

The  climate  is  peculiarly  healthy.  This  reminiscence  of  the 
early  days  was  given  me  from  a  pioneer,  vouched  for  as  worthy  of 
credence : — A  trapper  had  his  leg  badly  shattered  by  a  bullet,  in  a 
drunken  row.  Amputation  was  necessary ;  but  no  surgeon  within 
hundreds  of  miles.  He  whette"d  one  edge  of  his  hunting  knife 
to  its  utmost  sharpness ;  filed  the  other  into  a  saw ;  and  with  his 


486  QUAINT    INDIAN    TRANSLATIONS.  [1865. 

own  hand  cut  the  flesh,  sawed  the  bone,  and  seared  the  veins 
with  a  red-hot  iron.  He  still  lives  in  California,  walking  upon  a 
wooden  leg ! 

Miners'  phrases  are  original  and  pithy.  The  *  color'  is  their 
name  for  finest  particles  of  gold  in  the  earth.  One  remarked  of  a 
man  tried  in  various  positions  and  found  utterly  worthless : 

1 1  have  panned  him  out,  clear  down  to  the  bed  rock ;  but  I 
can't  even  raise  the  color.' 

Montana  is  eight  hundred  miles  from  east  to  west,  by  nearly 
three  hundred  from  north  to  south.  It  is  well  named,  being 
mountainous  throughout.  It  contains  five  large  basins — four  on 
the  Atlantic  slope,  one  on  the  Pacific — and  numberless  smaller 
valleys.  While  snow  is  deep  upon  the  'mountains,  cattle  grow  fat 
among  the  green  bunch-grass  of  the  valleys,  a  thousand  feet  lower. 

*  My  father's  empire,'  said  Cyrus  to  Xenophon,  *  is  so  large  that 
men  perish  with  cold  at  one  end,  while  they  suffocate  with 
heat  at  the  other.'  But  here,  one  may  find  greenest  herbage  and 
deep  snow  less  than  a  mile  apart.  Sometimes  the  drifts  half 
cover  even  the  hardy  grass  of  the  valleys.  Then  cattle  still  sub 
sist  upon  the  protruding  tops.  Horses  and  antelopes  paw  up  the, 
snow,  to  find  their  hidden  food.  When  it  is  too  deep,  they  live 
upon  bark  of  the  cotton  wood.  Thus  Caesar  reminds  Antony : 

'  Tea,  like  the  stag  when  snow  the  pasture  sheets., 
The  barks  of  trees  thou  browsed'st.' 

The  Territory  is  occupied  by  Indians  of  various  tribes.  The 
dialect  of  the  Snakes  is  talked  by  them,  and  more  or  less  by 
nearly  all  savages  between  western  Kansas  and  the  Pacific  slope. 
Here  are  their  literal  renderings  of  a  few  common  words  : — Deaf 
— no  ear-holes;  awkward — no  hands;  thunder — the  clouds  crying; 
Sunday — the  big  day  ;  one  hundred — the  hands  ten  times  ;  rice — ant- 
eggs  (these,  roasted,  are  a  favorite  diet;)  wagon — wooden  horse;  Gal- 
latin  river — the  swift  river;  Snake  river — ike  sage-brush  river; 
Great  Salt  Lake — the  bad  water;  turtle  dove — the  rattlesnake's 
brother.  The  last-named  is  from  their  tradition  that  whenever  the 
dove  is  mocked  or  its  mate  killed,  it  tells  the  rattlesnake,  who 
follows  and  bites  the  offending  Indian. 

Montana,  now  containing  twenty-five  thousand  people,  will  soon 


1865.]       VIGILANTES    ADMINISTERING    JUSTICE. 


487 


apply  for  admission  to  the  Union.  Thus  far,  nominally  it  has 
been  ruled  through  a  Territorial  legislature  elected  by  the  people, 
and  governor  and  judges  appointed  by  the  President.  Actually, 
the  power  has  vested  in  the 
1  Vigilantes,'  a  secret  tribunal 
of  citizens,  organized  before 
civil  laws  were  framed,  when 
robberies  and  cold-blooded 
murders  were  of  daily  occur 
rence.  The  highwaymen  were 
called  '  road  agents,'  from  their 
assumed  authority  over  the 
stage  roads  and  stage  com 
panies,  transcending  that  of 
the  superintendents  themselves. 
Coaches  and  private  convey 
ances  were  stopped  by  'road 
agents,'  with  cocked  guns,  com 
pelling  passengers  to  hold  up 
their  hands,  lest  they  should 
grasp  weapons,  while  their  per 
sons  and  vehicle  were  rifled.  A  STATE  OF  SUSPENSK 
He  who  resisted  was  killed  on 

the  spot.  An  immigrant  who  had  shot  a  grouse  near  the  road, 
ran  to  pick  it  up;  and  found  that  it  had  fallen  upon  the  corpse  of 
one  of  these  victims,  lying  in  a  sage-brush  thicket.  In  a  Virginia 
barber  shop,  revolvers  were  drawn,  one  man  was  shot  dead  and 
another  wounded ;  but  such  affairs  were  so  common  that  the  bar 
ber  did  not  even  stop  lathering  his  patron's  face,  nor  did  the 
patron  leave  his  chair. 

After  a  hundred  homicides,  the  Vigilantes  organized,  captured, 
tried,  and  executed  twenty-four  of  the  leading  desperadoes ;  and 
banished  many  others.  Two  or  three  days  before  I  visited 
Helena,  the  people  awoke  one  morning  to  find  a  notorious 
reprobate  in  a  state  of  suspense — hanging  dead  from  a  tree  limb, 
and  labeled :  *  Murderer.'  It  was  a  sharp  warning  to  the  surviv 
ing  cut-throats.  The  tree,  near  the  heart  of  the  city,  has  been 
used  so  frequently  for  this  purpose  that  it  is  known  as  *  Tyburn^ 


488 


QUARTZ    ON    THE    BRAIN. 


[1865. 


Every  new  State  in  its  early  history  attracts  thieves  and  mur 
derers  ;  and  sooner  or  later,  purges  itself  through  the  swift,  terrible 
vengeance  of  Lynch  law.  But  it  was  said  that  these  Vigilantes 
had  executed  no  man  of  whose  guilt  there  was  reasonable  doubt ; 
and  they  rendered  life  and  property  far  safer  than  is  usual  in 

new  gold  regions. 

In  California,  a  miner 
gave  a  good  illustration 
of  the  general  sentiment  of 
the  frontier.  When  he 
was  called  up  as  juror  in 
a  murder  case,  the  judge 
asked  him  the  usual  ques 
tion: 

'  Have  you  any  conscien 
tious  scruples  about  cap 
ital  punishment?' 
He  responded : 
'  I    have — in    all    cases 
ivhen  it  is  not  administered 
by  a  vigilance  committee  /' 

Montana  suffers  from 
the  speculation  mania — 
the  financial  measles 
which  attack  all  infant 
States  containing  rich 
minerals.  It  has  'quartz 
on  the  brain.'  Everybody 
has  c  feet '  for  sale.  In 

conversation,  quiet  gentlemen  most  unexpectedly  produce  bits  of 
rock  from  their  pockets,  with  the  earnest  remark : 

1 1  have  got  the  biggest  thing  in  the  Territory  !  Just  look  at 
that  ore !' 

A  resident  friend  and  his  wife  found  the  carpet-sack  of  an  old 
negress  who  had  long  been  their  family  servant,  weighed  down 
with  a  peck  of  fragments  of  granite. 

1  Why,  Aunty,'  he  inquired,  'what  are  these?' 

4  Speciments,  mass'r,  speciments !'  was  her  prompt  reply. 


SPECIMENTS,    MASS'R.' 


1865.]  A    GREAT    FUTURE    FOR    MONTANA.  489 

The  scenery  of  the  whole  region  is  exceedingly  beautiful.  Cop* 
per  and  iron  are  plentiful.  Some  coal,  *  the  portable  climate  of 
our  civilization,'  has  been  discovered.  Agates,  amethysts,  and 
rubies  are  found,  and  I  have  seen  a  large  collection  of  garnets,  all 
picked  up  by  a  lady  in  her  back  yard. 

The  development  of  the  next  few  years  will  be  very  rapid ;  and 
this  little-known  Territory  will  soon  produce  more  of  the  precious 
metals  than  any  State  except  California. 

In  all  the  social  and  material  elements  for  a  great  and  powerful 
Commonwealth,  Montana  is  full  of  richness  and  of  promise. 
Beautiful  upon  the  mountains  is  this  youngest  and  fairest  of  our 
national  sisterhood,  her  arms  heaped  with  shining  gold,  her  hair 
dripping  with  morning  dew. 

Gold  and  silver,  whether  found  in  rock  or  in  decomposed  ea^th, 
work  the  miracles  of  our  civilization.  Palaces  spring  up  in  the 
wilderness,  and  cities  among  the  mountain  tops.  The  stream  is 
imprisoned  by  the  dam,  and  vexed  with  the  wheel ;  fruitful  farms 
are  wrested  from  lonely  valleys,  and  glowing  treasures  from  rock- 
ribbed  hills ;  newspapers  and  telegraphs  bring  in  all  the  world  for 
neighbors ;  the  beaver  must  dive  his  quickest  to  avoid  the  plowing 
steamer ;  and  buffalo  and  Indian  run  their  fleetest  to  escape  the 
gliding  locomotive. 


490    LEWIS  AND  o LAKE'S  GBEAT  EXPEDITION.  [1865. 


CHAPTER    XL. 

THE  great  Louisiana  Purchase  from  Napoleon,  was  made  by  Pres» 
ident  Jefferson  in  1803,  for  fifteen  millions  of  dollars.  It  compre 
hended  the  present  State  of  Louisiana,  and  the  entire  region  west 
of  the  Mississippi,  between  the  Spanish  possessions  on  the  south 
and  British  America  on  the  north — more  than  half  the  present 
area  of  the  United  States. 

Scon  after  this  negotiation,  in  obedience  to  an  act  of  Congress, 
Jefferson  sent  Lewis  and  Clark,  captains  in  the  United  States 
army,  to  explore  the  vast,  unknown  region  which  his  wisdom  and 
sagacity  had  added  to  the  young  republic.  The  prime  purpose  of 
the  expedition  was  to  ascertain  the  possibility  of  a  road  across  the 
continent ;  it  was  unconsciously  the  pioneer  movement  for  a  Pacific 
railway.  They  started  from  the  then  little  French  village  of  St. 
Louis,  laboriously  ascending  the  Missouri  to  its  sources  in  the 
Rocky  Mountains;  crossed  the  range  by  a  difficult  pass;  and 
reaching  the  head  of  the  Columbia,  followed  it  to  the  ocean. 
It  was  a  daring  journey,  full  of  adventure  and  romance,  over 
the  untrodden  continent,  through  hundreds  of  savage  nations. 
It  was  an  epic  of  exploration — a  modern  Argonautic  pursuit  of 
the  Golden  Fleece  of  the  future.  The  little  band  were  scouts 
and  spies  of  a  grand  army  for  the  conquest  of  a  hemisphere — the 
army  of  civilization  and  freedom. 

Twenty  years  ago,  Lewis  and  Clark's  report,  in  two  large 
octavos,  was  eagerly  read  wherever  the  English  language  was 
spoken.  The  venerable  volumes  were  found  upon  farm-house 
tables  and  mantels  throughout  the  United  States.  Now  the  work 
is  out  of  print. 

The  adventurous  explorers  journeyed  along  rivers  in  boats 


1865.] 


EXPLORERS  GIVEN  UP  AS  DEAD. 


491 


propelled  by  sails,  oars  and  tow-lines ;  and  upon  the  land,  both  on 
horseback  and  on  foot.  They  were  the  first  white  men  to  see  the 
Great  Falls  of  the  Missouri,  and  the  Gates  of  the  Kocky  Moun 
tains  ;  and  to  descend  the  Columbia,  past  all  its  whirlpools  and 
rapids,  to  the  broad,  inhospitable  mouth. 

After  the  absence  of  more  than  two  years,  they  once  more 
reached  St.  Louis.  The  inhabitants  who  had  long  given  them 
up  as  dead,  deceived,  at  first  sight,  by  their  clothing  of  skins 


GREAT   FALLS   OF   MISSOURI   RIVER,    MONTANA. 

and  swarthy  faces,  supposed  them  Indians.  Going  out,  they  made 
the  distance  from  the  mouth  of  the  Missouri  to  the  mouth  of  the 
Columbia,  four  thousand  one  hundred  and  thirty-four  miles. 
They  returned  by  a  nearer  route,  shortening  it  to  three  thousand 
five  hundred  and  seventy-five. 

Clark  was  a  native  of  Kentucky,  whose  familiarity  with  Indian 
warfare  from  early  boyhood,  especially  fitted  him  for  this  expedi 
tion.  He  acted  as  the  military  director,  while  Lewis*  devoted 
himself  chiefly  to  scientific  investigations. 

After  their  return,  Clark  was  successively  brigadier-general, 
governor  of  Missouri  Territory  and  superintendent  of  Indian 


492  BUILD    THEM    A    MONUMENTl  [1865. 

affairs  under  President  Monroe.  He  filled  the  last  position  with 
signal  fidelity  and  success,  until  his  death  in  St.  Louis  in  1838. 
The  Indians  uniformly  named  him  *  Red  Head.' 

Lewis  was  a  Virginian,  who  had  been  in  the  army,  and  afterward 
private  secretary  to  President  Jefferson.  In  1809,  serving  as 
governor  of  Missouri  Territory,  he  found  that  quiet  life  un 
endurable.  At  a  wayside  Tennessee  inn,  he  died  by  his  own 
hand,  at  the  early  age  of  thirty-five. 

The  patience  and  daring  of  these  explorers,  sent  forth  in 
obedience  to  the  early  national  instinct  which  is  now  culminating 
in  the  trans-continental  railway,  excited  the  warm  enthusiasm  of 
their  countrymen.  Successive  administrations  recognized  their 
services  by  retaining  them  in  important  public  positions;  and 
Congress  made  large  grants  of  public  land  to  each. 

Simultaneously  with  the  running  of  the  first  locomotive  from 
the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  some  fitting  monument  to  their  memory, 
reared  by  the  American  Government  or  people,  should  receive  its 
crowning  stone. 

Their  report  describes  the  Great  Falls  of  Missouri,  two  thousand 
five  hundred  miles  above  St.  Louis,  within  the  present  limits  of 
Montana,  as  'a  sublime  spectacle,  which  since  the  creation  has  been 
lavishing  its  magnificence  upon  a  desert  unknown  to  civilization.' 
Lewis  found  the  river  three  hundred  yards  wide,  among  pre 
cipitous  cliffs,  with  the  water  falling  eighty  feet.  On  the  north 
side  the  current  was  broken  by  projecting  rocks  and  its  spray  flew 
up  in  vast  snowy  columns  luminous  with  rainbows. 

The  stream  in  this  vicinity  is  really  a  series  of  descents.  In 
thirteen  miles  of  cascades  and  rapids,  the  total  fall  is  three  hundred 
and  eighty  feet.  The  upper  cataract,  forty  feet  high,  extending 
across  the  river  like  a  slightly-bent  bow,  is  picturesque  and 
beautiful.  Among  the  rapids  at  its  base  are  many  little  falls,  of 
from  one  to  five  yards,  while  the  banks  on  either  side  form  a  deep 
narrow  gorge,  one  thousand  feet  below  the  general  level  of  the 
bare  plains.  These  tremendous  walls  of  yellow  sandstone  give 
peculiar  grandeur  and  impressiveness  to  the  wild,  rugged  scene. 

The  lower  or  Great  Falls  are  best  seen  from  a  projecting  point 
of  rock.  The  thunder  of  the  falling  torrent,  vailed  in  snowy 
foam,  the  bold  banks,  the  dazzling  rainbows,  and  the  immense 


1865.] 


'HELP    YOURSELF    TO    THE    MUSTARD. 


493 


volume  of  water,  will  make  the  spot  a  favorite  one  for  tourists  in 
all  coming  time. 

With  regret  I  left  Montana,  her  green  valleys  glad  with  streams 
and  flowers,  her  rugged  mountains  somber  with  pines  and  firs. 
On  the  way  back  toward  Salt  Lake,  at  some  stage  stations  we 
were  feasted  on  wild  geese  and  mountain  trout,  more  toothsome 


ROBBERY   OF   THE   MONTANA   COACH. 


than  the  usual 
salt  pork  and 
beans.  Once 
a  traditional 
passenger,  at  a 
station  break 
fast,  found 
nothing  whatever  upon  the  table  except  pork  and  mustard. 

1  Will  you  have  some  bacon  ?'  queried  the  landlord. 

'  No,'  replied  the  disgusted  traveler ;  *  I  never  eat  pork.' 

'Then,'  responded  the  complacent  host,  (  help  yourself  to  the 
mustard!' 

We  passed  through  Port  Neuf  canyon,  thirty  miles  long,  where 
the  mail  coach,  bringing  gold  dust  from  Montana,  has  been  twice 
robbed.  The  last  time,  it  was  crowded  with  passengers  all  armed 

32 


494  UNERRING    INSTINCT    OF    BEAVERS.  [1865, 

to  the  teeth,  and  keeping  vigilant  watch  ;  for  a  suspicious,  staring 
horseman,  his  face  concealed  by  a  slouching  hat,  had  twice  ridden 
past.  The  canyon  is  narrow,  with  high  walls  and  shrubbery  along 
the  little  brook  which  threads  it. 

In  broad  daylight,  when  all  were  riding  with  guns  and  revolvers 
cocked  in  their  hands,  seven  men  with  blackened  faces,  abruptly 
rose  up  from  the  dense  willows  on  each  side,  stopping  the  horses, 
and  firing  into  the  coach.  The  passengers  returned  the  fire ;  but 
their  courage  was  useless.  In  these  stage  robberies,  persons  are 
seldom  able  to  defend  themselves  if  they  remain  in  the  vehicle. 
By  jumping  out  and  scattering  they  often  succeed  in  driving  away 
the  robbers.  On  this  occasion  one  of  the  highwaymen  was 
wounded  but  escaped ;  four  passengers  were  killed — one,  an  old 
Kansas  neighbor  of  mine,  riddled  with  fifty  bullets  and  buck 
shots. 

The  robbers  secured  sixty  thousand  dollars  in  gold  dust; 
climbed  out  of  the  canyon  to  the  sand-hills,  where  waiting 
confederates  guarded  their  horses;  and  made  good  their  escape. 
None  of  them  were  ever  caught. 

Port  Neuf  creek  is  obstructed  by  multitudinous  beaver-dams,  only 
a  few  yards  apart,  with  well-worn  paths  leading  from  them  into 
the  alder  bushes.  These  unerring  masons  of  the  stream  construct 
their  dams  in  spring,  just  high  enough  for  the  coming  season — 
instinctively  knowing  whether  it  will  prove  wet  or  dry.  Some 
times  they  quite  flood  out  the  gulch  miners  above;  and  rebuild 
their  dams  every  night,  as  often  as  the  gold-seekers  destroy  them 
by  day.  They  are  so  shy  that  the  most  skillful  white  hunters 
rarely  get  a  glimpse  of  them.  They  cut  down  cottonwood  trees 
fifteen. inches  in  diameter.  And  it  is  affirmed  that  when  a  beaver 
is  domesticated,  if  a  bucket  of  water  be  upset  on  the  floor,  he  will 
make  a  dam  of  sticks,  blankets,  cups,  whatever  he  can  reach, — in 
the  sanguine  hope  of  forming  a  pond  to  hide  in  ! 

At  Bear  Eiver  Junction,  on  the  fifth  morning,  I  took  the  left 
stroke  of  the  Y  for  Idaho.  Great  Salt  Lake  stretched  blue  'and 
shining  at  our  left,  near  its  west  end,  one  hundred  and  forty  miles 
from  Salt  Lake  City.  We  were  now  in  Idaho,  barest  and 
most  desolate  of  all  our  Territories,  with  vast  rolling  wastes  of 
lava,  sand  and  sage-brush.  But  its  lack  in  agriculture  is  more 


1865.] 


EVERY    MAN'S    HOUSE    HIS    CASTLE. 


495 


than  counterbalanced  by  its  richness  in  minerals.  Here,  as  in 
Dante's  Inferno,  'not  green  but  brown  the  foliage.'  Yet  this 
nutritive  bunch-grass,  requiring  no  rain,  keeps  the  stage-horses  fat, 
and  often  subsists  great  herds  driven  hither  to  escape  the  drowths 
of  California.  Here  is  the  world's  pasturage.  Hundreds  of 
valleys  await  the  tinkling  sheep-bells ;  cattle  shall  browse  upon  a 
thousand  hills. 

Among  these  dreary  uninhabited  deserts   we  encountered  few 
travelers  and  no  settlers.     The  stage  stations  are  built  of  lava 


UTAH  INDIANS,    CAPTURED   BY   UNITED   STATES  TROOPS. 

blocks,  and  "their  walls  pierced  with  holes,  for  muskets  and  re 
volvers,  in  Indian  warfare.  Every  man's  house  is  literally  his 
castle. 

A  few  of  the  degraded  Utahs  still  rove  these  forbidding  tracts. 
They  paint  their  bodies  hideously  ;  and  with  their  long  locks  and 
gross  faces  look  even  more  repulsive  and  brutal  than  the  savages 
in  general. 

Our  coach  contains  only  two  passengers.     By  night,  with  seats 


496  A    MOST    WONDERFUL    MIRAGE.  [1865. 

removed,  we  sleep  upon  a  bed  of  hay  in  the  bottom  of  the  vehicle. 
We  pass  City  of  Kocks,  a  curious  group  of  basaltic  columns, 
Two  rise  sixty  feet,  the  Gog  and  Magog  of  the  desert. 

Hill-sides  are  curiously  mottled  with  pure  snow,  brown  grass 
and  dark  evergreens;  and  ravines  lined  with  kinnikinic,  a 
shrub  which  Indians  dry  and  smoke,  both  pure  and  mixed  wi'th, 
tobacco. 

Sixty  miles  east,  and  beyond  our  vision,  is  the  great  Camaa 
prairie,  thirty -five  miles  long  by  eight  in  width  ;  rich,  easy  of  irri 
gation  from  the  mountains  which  inclose  it,  and  threaded  by  the 
Mahlad  river.  This  stream,  after  running  more  than  a  hundred 
miles,  sinks  into  the  earth  like  the  waters  of  Damascus.  The 
camas-plant,  with  clusters  of  pale  blue  flowers,  leaf  like  a  lily,  and 
bulb  like  an  onion,  abounds  beside  our  road.  Indians  dig  the 
root  with  an  iron  hook,  and  subsist  upon  it  during  the  winter. 

I  had  heard  much  of  the  Shoshonee  or  Great  Fall  of  the  Snake; 
but  was  unable  to  find  any  white  man  who  had  seen  it.  It  is 
only  six  miles  from  the  stage-road,  (two  hundred  and  sixty-five 
miles  from  Salt  Lake  City;  one  hundred  and  eighty -five  from  Boise.) 
Hostile  Indians  had  hitherto  rendered  visiting  it  unsafe ;  but  the 
lieutenant  in  charge  of  a  detachment  of  Oregon  soldiers  encamped 
.at  the  station,  undertook  to  conduct  us. 

Before  daylight  we  started  for  the  cataract,  which  Indians  call 
JPah-chu-lak-a — gift  of  the  Great  Spirit.  Probably  our  vehicle  was 
the  first  that  ever  approached  it.  The  tall  sage-brush,  crushed  by 
our  slow  wheels,  loaded  the  air  with  heavy  perfume.  Through 
the  dim  dawn  we  were  guided  by  the  everlasting  pillar  of  cloud, 
rising  from  the  troubled  waters  six  miles  away.  Soon  we  heard 
faintly  the  eternal  roar  of  the  cataract. 

And  here  we  witnessed  a  mirage,  quite  as  wonderful  as  the 
water-fall — a  mirage  as  far  surpassing  any  I  had  ever  seen  before 
in  years  of  mountain  and  desert  wandering,  as  the  auroral 
splendors  of  northern  night  surpass  the  clouds  of  a  summer  day. 
The  sun  had  not  risen,  and  the  morning  horizon  was  dim 
amethyst.  Suddenly  there  was  born  in  the  eastern  sky  an  ocean 
of  gold,  glowing  and  blazing;  then  at  its  left,  a  sea  of  silver;  and 
then,  still  farther,  a  lake  of  steel — all  broken  by  rich  brown 
islands. 


1865.]  VISITING    GREAT    SHOSHONEE    FALL.  497 

One  of  these  celestial  islands  was  symmetric  and  dark,  recalling 
Fort  Sumter;  another  was  a  black  monitor  anchored  near  it.  The 
three  bodies  of  water,  bounded  by  purple  shores,  and  occupying 
nearly  one-quarter  of  the  horizon,  were  as  distinct  and  well-defined 
as  a  pine-tree,  or  a  rock. 

While  we  gazed  in  wonder,  a  horizontal  shaft  of  blue,  in 
fragments,  but  on  a  perfect  level,  slowly  extended  across  them — 
a  broken  bridge  with  piers  and  arches,  like  the  Bridge  of  Life  in 
the  immortal  allegory  of  Addison. 

Suddenly  the  sky  warmed  to  saffron,  as  the  great  round  face  of 
the  sun  glowed  between  two  sentinel  mountains  of  purple,  the 
Gateways  of  the  Day.  Then  the  heavenly  vision  which,  con 
stantly  changing  in  form  and  color,  we  had  viewed  for  nearly 
half  an  hour,  disappeared  like  a  vapor.  Ah,  could  it  have  been 
perpetuated !  But  who  can  paint  the  mountains,  the  seas  or  the 
skies  ?  And  if  Bierstadt  could  reproduce  on  canvas  this  miracle 
of  the  heavens,  the  art  critics  would  say :  '  It  is  utterly  impossible 
— no  living  man  ever  looked  upon  such  skies !'  He  who  sees 
truly  will  no  more  place  limits  upon  the  wonders  of  the  universe 
than  upon  the  divine  love  which  pervades  and  suffuses  it.  In 
nature,  as  in  human  life,  nothing  is  impossible. 

Still  the  river  was  invisible  in  its  winding  chasm,  one  thousand 
feet  below  the  surface  of  the  plain ;  but  now  at  three  miles  we 
heard  more  clearly  its  thrilling  roar,  and  saw  the  mist  with  its 
violet  tinge  of  rainbow,  which  arises  forever  and  ever,  as  if  old 
Shoshonee  were  taking  a  vapor-bath  or  smoking  his  pipe. 

At  last  we  alighted  on  a  broken  floor  of  brown  lava,  descended 
the  precipice  for  three  hundred  feet  by  a  natural  rock  stairway, 
walked  a  few  hundred  yards  across  a  terrace  of  grass,  lava  and 
cedars;  and  stood  upon  a  second  precipice. 

Peering  over  the  edge,  five  hundred  feet  beneath  us  we  saw  the 
river,  after  its  terrific  leap,  peaceful  as  a  mirror.  Half  a  mile 
above,  in  full  view,  was  the  cataract.  It  is  unequaled  in  the 
world,  save  by  Niagara,  of  which  it  vividly  reminded  us.  It  is 
not  all  hight  like  Yosemite,  nor  all  breadth  and  power  like  the 
Great  Falls  of  the  Missouri,  nor  all  strength  and  volume  like 
Niagara;  but  combines  the  three  elements.  Like  most  cataracts 
it  has  the  horse- shoe  form  and  the  undying  rainbow. 


498 


ENORMOUS    PORTALS    OF    LAVA. 


[1865. 


The  torrent  is  less  than  at  Niagara;  and  its  crescent-summit 
appears  less  than  a  thousand  feet  wide.  But  the  descent — two 
hundred  feet — is  one-third  greater ;  while  above  the  brink,  solemn 
portals  of  lava  rising  for  hundreds  of  feet  on  each  bank,  supply 


an  element  of 
grandeur  which 
the  monarch  of 
cataracts  alto 
gether  lacks. 
One  of  these 
lava  columns  is 

crowned  with  an  eagle's  nest.      Below  the  fall,  over  the  canyon 

side,  shriveled  cedars  with  roots  like  claws  cling  to  the  rock. 

Upon  the  withered  branch  of  one  perched  a  white-tailed  magpie ; 

while  upon  another,  statuesque  and  motionless,  was  an  enormous 

raven,  black  as  jet. 


SNAKE   RIVER,    CATARACT,    IDAHO. 


1865.]  FASCINATION    OF    THE    DEEP    GULF.  499 

Down  the  stream  I  could  find  no  place  where  I  dared  attempt  to 
descend  the  almost  unbroken  wall  to  the  water's  edge.  But  just 
below  the  brink  I  crept  out  to  the  edge  of  the  projecting  rock. 
Clinging  to  a  hardy  cedar,  I  saw  the  peaceful  waters  two  hundred 
and  fifty  feet  below  me.  Above,  the  surface  of  the  water  is 
broken  into  five  channels  by  little  islands.  Thence  I  saw  the 
river  come  gliding  swift,  clear  and  smooth  to  the  dizzy  edge ;  the 
long  plunge ;  and  the  caldron,  which  boils  beneath,  under  waft 
ing  clouds  of  spray.  The  fall  itself  is  of  purest  white,  inter 
spersed  with  myriads  of  glittering  glassy  drops — a  cataract  of 
snow  with  an  avalanche  of  jewels.  Mocking  and  belittling  all 
human  splendor,  Nature  is  here  in  her  lace  and  pearls,  her  robe 
of  diamonds  and  tiara  of  rainbow. 

1  The  world,  how  far  away  it  seemed,  and  God,  how  near !' 
Under  the  deafening  roar,  how  the  firm-set  earth  quailed  and 
vibrated!  How  deep  the  chasm  from  which  rose  pearly  mist, 
hiding  forever  from  human  eyes  the  secrets  of  its  troubled  heart ! 
Long  I  lay  upon  the  rock-shelf,  gazing  over  the  brink,  riveted  by 
the  great  white  cataract,  and  the  absorbing  fascination  of  that  pro 
found,  tempting  gulf.  How  easy,  by  one  leap,  to  leave  behind  all 
earthly  cares  and  griefs — to  solve  the  solemn  mysteries  of  death — 
perchance  to  join  the  loved  and  lost,  who  wait  us  in  the  life 
beyond ! 

The  river  has  several  other  picturesque  falls  within  forty  miles. 
Returning  to  the  stage-road  we  continued  our  journey.  At 
sunset  came  another  mirage,  in  the  west,  where  lakes  of  gold 
reflected  mountains  of  cloud — 'seas  of  mingled  glass  with  fire.' 
When  these  faded,  the  actual  mountains  in  the  north  were  lapis 
lazuli ;  but  the  clouds  beyond  and  above  mirrored  them  as  moun 
tains  of  marble  and  sapphire. 

In  the  dusk  of  the  same  evening,  by  a  rope  ferry,  twenty  miles 
below  the  Great  Fall,  we  crossed  the  Snake,  descending  to  the 
bottom  of  its  deep  chasm  by  precipitous  roads.  At  the  log  station, 
half  a  mile  from  the  river,  we  walked  out  by  moonlight,  to 
view  a  dark  gorge,  shut  in  by  basaltic  walls,  three  hundred  feet 
high. 

From  one  of  these,  fifty  feet  above  the  ground,  gush  twenty 
springs,  varying  in  size  from  a  man's  arm  to  a  flour-barrel.  All 


500  A    BLOODLESS    IDAHO    WAR.  [1865. 

lashed  into  silver  spray  they  leap  down  jutting  rocks,  at  whose  base 
they  merge  into  one.  forming  a  stream  a  hundred  feet  wide.  This 
wonderful  spring,  which  has  not  even  a  name,  is  supposed  to  be 
the  resurrection  and  new  life  of  the  Mahlad  river,  which  died  and 
was  buried  in  the  desert  sixty  miles  away.  To  see  it  was  a  fit 
ending  for  an  ever  memorable  day. 

In  nine  days  from  Virginia  Montana,  my  stage  ride  ended  at 
Boise  City.  On  the  whole  lonely  road  from  Bear  river  we  saw 
hardly  a  single  team,  nor  any  human  habitation  except  stage 
stations.  Indeed  the  most  noticeable  evidences  of  civilization  we 
encountered  were  all  lying  together  in  the  road  :  a  whisky  bottle, 
an  old  newspaper,  and  an  empty  match-box  bearing  a  United 
States  revenue  stamp. 

Boise,  capital,  commercial  metropolis,  and  geographical  center 
of  Idaho,  is  a  trading  not  a  mining  town,  with  about  two  thousand 
inhabitants.  It  is  in  the  smooth  valley  of  the  Boise  river — a  val 
ley  fifty  miles  long  by  five  or  six  in  width,  and  with  some  agricuL 
tural  capacity.  The  broad,  level,  treeless  avenues,  with  their  low, 
white,  verandahed  warehouses,  log-cabins,  neat  cottages  and  ever- 
shifting  panorama  of  wagons  and  coaches,  Indians,  miners,  farmers 
and  speculators  remind  one  of  a  prairie  town  in  Kansas  or  Iowa. 
It  is  overlooked  by  Fort  Boise,  which  has  a  noble  parade-ground, 
surrounded  by  tasteful  buildings  of  sandstone;  and  is  a  singu 
larly  beautiful  frontier  post. 

The  capital  was  established  here  only  after  a  violent  conflict. 
The  legislature,  with  the  governor's  approval,  removed  it  from 
Lewiston,  on  the  extreme  western  border  of  the  Territory.  The 
Lewistonians  declared  this  illegal ;  armed  and  drilled  for  forcible 
resistance,  and  vowed  they  would  never  submit  without  bloodshed. 
Nevertheless,  the  law  was  carried  out ;  and  the  threatening  sover 
eigns  finally  acquiesced.  As  Webster  ponderously  suggested  of 
Hayne's  speech  :  '  It  is  not  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  human 
affairs,  that  the  vigor  and  success  of  the  war  have  not  quite  come 
up  to  the  lofty  and  sounding  phrase  of  the  manifesto.' 

Within  a  hundred  miles  of  Boise  are  nearly  all  the  present  pop 
ulation  and  mining  districts  of  Idaho: — 1.  The  Boise  Basin,  of 
which  Idaho  City  (containing  five  thousand  people)  thirty-five 
miles  northeast,  is  chief  town.  The  'basin,'  a  deep,  saucer-like 


1865.] 


UNATTRACTIVE    STATE    OF    SOCIETY. 


501 


tract  among  the  mountains,  twenty -five  miles  in  diameter  from 
rim  to  rim,  contains  some  good  ledges  of  gold-bearing  quartz,  and 
large,  rich  placer  diggings.  It  has  little  farming  land;  but  is 
timbered  with  noble  pines.  2.  Alturas  county — chief  town, 
Kocky  Bar,  ninety-five  miles  northeast.  It  embraces  abundant  pas 
turage  and  vegetable  lands,  including  the  Coamas  prairies  and  the 
chief,  almost  the  only,  portions  of  Idaho  giving  farming  promise. 
Here  are  few  placers;  but  Kocky  Bar,  Eed  Warrior,  Volcano,  Yuba 
and  other  rich  quartz  districts. 
3.  Owhyee  Kegion,  seventy 
miles  south;  with  very  little 
farming  land  or  placer  gold, 
but  the  richest  and  most 
abundant  lodes  of  gold  and 
silver-bearing  rock  ever  found 
in  the  United  States. 

At  the  time  of  my  visit,  Ida 
ho  society  was  not  attractive. 
Murders  were  frequent;  for 
with  a  majority  of  industrious, 
law-abiding  settlers,  the  Ter 
ritory  had  also  many  late 
rebel  soldiers  and  Missouri 
runaways;  and  the  worst 
desperadoes  from  California, 
Nevada,  Oregon  and  Mon 
tana.  The  legislature  con 
tained  just  one  Union  mem 
ber;  and  during  the  war 

there  was  more  disloyalty  than  in  any  northern  community  except 
Utah.  Old  Parson  Strong  of  Hartford,  the  fierce  political  preacher 
in  the  days  of  Federalism,  was  accused  of  charging,  from  the  pul 
pit,  that  all  the  democrats  were  horse-thieves.  He  replied  : 

1  It  is  a  slander  ;  I  never  asserted  any  thing  of  the  kind.  But 
what  I  do  say,  and  what  I  can  prove,  is,  that  all  the  horse-thieves 
are  democrats.' 

So  in  this  community  the  Disunionists  were  not  all  desperadoes, 
but  all  the  desperadoes  were  Disunionists. 


EVIDENCES    OF   CIVILIZATION. 


502 


THE    CHINOOK    JARGON. 


[1865. 


Our  new  Territories  in  their  early  history  show  wonderful  uni 
formity.  At  its  first  elections  each  invariably  votes  the  demo 
cratic  ticket.  As  time  passes,  each  has  its  fevers  of  speculation,  its 
wild  inflations  and  paralyzing  reactions,  its  bitter  contests  about  lo 
cating  the  capital.  Each  elects  some  of  its  weakest  and  most  cor 
rupt  men  to  office;  and,  sooner  or  later,  is  driven  into  purging  it 
self  of  thieves  and  murderers  through  the  application  of  Lynch  law. 

There  are  about  fifty  Indian  tribes  in  Oregon,  Washington  and 
Idaho.  No  two  speak  precisely  the  same  language ;  but  a  strange 
patois,  known  as  the  '  Chinook  Jargon,'  is  comprehended  by  nearly 
all  of  them,  and  by  most  white  settlers.  As  in  all  rudimentary 


INTERIOR   OP   A    QUARTZ   MILL. 


languages,  the  same  word  is  either  a  noun  or  a  verb,  according  to 
the  context;  as  'Ni-iva-wa* — 'I  speak,'  or,  'My  word.'  Here  are 
a  few  common  terms  of  the  Jargon,  which  frequently  enters,  as  a 
sort  of  local  slang,  into  general  conversation : 


Brave,  skookum  turn-turn, 
Boots,  stick-shoes. 
Boil,  lip  lip. 
Bag,  la  sack. 
Bell,  ting-ting. 
Bow,  stick-musket. 
Cat,  puss. 


Cold,  cold. 

Come  on,  hyar. 

Door,  la  port. 

Day,  sun. 

Great,  hyas. 

Half,  sit-cum. 

Handkerchief,  hanker-chum. 


1865.]  SCENES    IN    A    GREAT   TJUARTZ    MILL.  503 

Iron,  chink-a-mim.  Five,  quin-um. 

Laugh,  he-he.  Six,  tah-hum. 

Mind,  turn-turn.  Seven,  sin-a-mox. 

Sorry,  sick  turn-turn.  Eight,  stoat-kin. 

Window,  she-lock-um.  Nine,  quoits. 

Thank  you,  mer-cie.  Ten,  tot-li-lum. 

One,  ictf.  Twenty,  raocci!  foWi  te. 

Two,  moxt.  Thirty,  done-tot-li-lum. 

Three,  clone.  One  hundred,  let  tock-a-moo-nuck. 

Pour,  lock-et.  One  thousand,  tot-li-lum  tock-a-moo-nuck. 

While  in  Idaho,  imprisoned  by  the  storms  of  early  winter,  I 
found  much  attraction  and  instruction  in  studying  the  quarrying 
and  reduction  of  gold  and  silver  ore.  Conducted  on  a  large  scale, 
it  is  a  peculiarly  fascinating  pursuit.  The  interior  of  a  great  steam 
mill  with  its  heavy,  complicated  machinery  turning  out  thousands 
of  dollars  in  bullion  daily,  is  full  of  interest. 

First,  the  quartz  is  broken  by  sledge-hammers  into  fragments 
like  apples.  Next,  it  is  shoveled  into  the  feeders,  where  huge 
iron  stamps,  of  from  three  hundred  to  eight  hundred  pounds 
weight,  rising  and  falling  sixty  times  a  minute,  thunder  and  clat 
ter,  making  the  building  tremble,  as  they  crush  the  rock  to  wet 
powder. 

Quiet,  silent  workmen,  with  movements  almost  as  mechanical 
as  the  stamps  and  wheels,  run  this  pulp  successively  through  set 
tling-tanks,  amalgamating-pans,  agitators  and  separators — the  refuse 
material  passing  away,  and  quicksilver  collecting  the  precious 
metal  into  a  mass  of  shining  amalgam,  soft  as  putty.  This  goes 
into  the  fire-retort,  where  it  leaves  the  quicksilver  behind;  and 
finally  into  molds,  whence  it  comes  forth  clear  and  pure,  in  bricks 
and  bars  of  the  precious  metals. 

Swift  and  simple  appears  the  process  which  transforms  dull 
worthless-looking  rock  into  glowing  gold  or  shining  silver.  Yet 
by  what  tedious  toil,  consummate  skill  and  endless  experimenting 
was  this  rare  alchemy  achieved ;  through  what  weary  waiting  and 
divine  patience  was  this  philosopher's  stone  discovered  I 


504:  A    VISIT    TO    OWYHEE.  [1865, 


CHAPTER    XLI. 

FROM  Boise  I  took  a  trip  southward.  Oar  road  was  over  drear^ 
iest  plains  of  sand  and  alkali,  often  too  barren  even  for  sage-brush. 
For  leagues  on  every  side  swept  the  ashen,  treeless  desert,  as 
sweeps  the  boundless  sea.  Thirty  miles  out  we  ferried  the  Snake, 
two  hundred  yards  wide.  A  little  steamer  now  plies  upon  it,  from 
Salmon  Falls,  above  our  crossing,  for  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles 
down  the  stream.  The  stage  stations  are  named  with  sardonic 
humor.  One  is  called  Forest  Grove,  because  there  is  not  a  single 
tree  within  fifteen  miles;  another,  Cold  Spring,  because  not  a  drop 
of  water  exists  in  the  vicinity. 

A  freighter  of  our  company  told  us  his  experiences  of  a  few 
days  before.  Just  at  dawn  Indians  attacked  his  camp.  His  party 
of  six  finally  drove  them  off,  but  not  until  one  had  received  a  fatal 
bullet.  The  Snakes  frequently  kill  travelers  on  leading 
thoroughfares.  They  are  the  most  daring  savages  of  our  conti 
nent.  More  than  once  they  have  fougnt  their  own  number  of 
white  men,  without  any  special  advantage  of  position — some 
thing  unequaled  in  Indian  warfare.  They  have  even  dashed  into 
Fort  Lyon,  a  Government  post,  and  carried  off  horses  and  mules 
under  the  very  eyes  of  the  garrison. 

Soon  .after  dark  we  reached  Owyhee.  Its  metropolis  is  a  strag 
gling  strip  of  town  far  up  among  the  mountains,  at  one  end  called 
Boonville,  at  the  other  Silver  City,  and  in  the  middle  Euby  City. 
We  found  Boonville,  the  pioneer  settlement,  consisting  of  a  dozen 
deserted  frame  and  log  buildings,  the  gulch  between  them  torn 
and  gashed  with  ditches,  where  early  miners  used  to  work,  with 
guns  and  revolvers  lying  on  the  bank  beside  them,  in  constant 
readiness  for  the  Indians. 


1865.] 


RUBY  CITY — WAR  EAGLE  MOUNTAIN. 


505 


Two  miles  above  is  Kuby  City,  heart  of  the  Owyhee  district, 
and  only  six  miles  from  the  line  of  Oregon.  It  is  a  disorderly 
collection  of  buildings,  on  a  wooded  hill-side  sloping  down  to 
Jordan  creek.  Hidden  in  the  winding  valley  are  many  quartz 
mills — the  cause,  the  support,  the  very  life  of  the  settlement. 

The  placers,  once  rich,  are  now  little  worked,  though  some  hy 
draulic  washing  has  been  inaugurated ;  and  in  1866  there  were 
single  miners  who  cleared  twenty  thousand  dollars.  Owyhee  is  so 
rich  in  quartz  that  she  can  afford  to  dispense  with  gulch  mines. 

Ruby  lies  near  the  bottom  of  a  deep  canyon.     It  is  overlooked 


EUBY   CITY,    OWYHEE   DISTRICT,   IDAHO. 

by  the  summits  of  several  mountains,  from  six  hundred  to  two 
thousand  feet  above  the  town.  Some  are  bare  rock,  gashed  with 
gorges  and  pointed  with  turrets — the  rest,  greensward  dotted  with 
pines,  and  in  fall  and  winter  covered  with  snow. 

War  Eagle  is  king  of  all  these  peaks — its  crest  five  thousand 
feet  above  the  sea.  It  is  the  richest  and  most  wonderful  deposit 
of  quartz  yet  discovered  in  the  United  States,  even  eclipsing  the 
famed  Comstock  Lode. 


506  GRINDING    QUARTZ    VERSUS    STAMPING.       [1865. 

Upon  this  mountain,  only  five  miles  in  diameter  at  the  base, 
more  than  one  hundred  lodes  have  been  claimed,  staked,  and  re 
corded  ;  and  the  exceeding  richness  of  many  of  them  fairly  dem 
onstrated. 

War  Eagle  mountain  alone  will  doubtless  add  twenty  millions 
of  dollars  to  the  treasure  of  the  world.  The  large  quartz  mills 
are  erected  and  owned  chiefly  by  New  York,  Boston,  and  Provi 
dence  companies.  The  oldest  cost  seventy  thousand  dollars ;  and 
during  its  first  forty -five  working  days  yielded  ninety  thousand 
dollars  in  bullion. 

The  lodes  contain  from  two  to  seven  parts  (in  value)  gold  to  one 
of  silver.  Some  of  them  yield  incredibly.  All  are  nearly  per 
pendicular,  and  promise  little  opportunity  for  the  litigation  which 
was  almost  ruinous  to  Nevada.  Most  steadily  increase  down 
ward  in  width,  and  in  the  proportion  of  silver  to  gold.  Old 
miners  hold  the  latter  an  indication  of  permanence,  as  silver  mines 
are  less  prone  to  'run  out'  than  gold.  I  have  seen  no  ore 
equal  to  this  in  plentifulness  and  richness. 

All  mining  processes  are  imperfect ;  and  machinery  which  ex 
tracts  eighty  per  cent,  of  the  precious  metals  does  unusually  well. 
Below  these  Owyhee  mills,  swarms  of  Chinamen  find  lucrative 
employment  in  washing  and  panning  out  the  'tailings'  or  crushed 
rock,  after  the  mills  have  done  their  best  and  thrown  it  away. 
The  ores  are  easy  of  reduction ;  a  stamp  will  crush  from  one  and 
a-half  to  three  tons  per  day.  In  general  they  are  softer  than  those 
of  Nevada,  though  blasting  is  sometimes  required  to  get  out  the 
quartz. 

In  Montana  many  new  grinding  processes  have  been  intro 
duced.  Theoretically,  on  exhibition  in  New  York,  they  work 
admirably;  but  practically,  in  the  mines,  they  prove  worthless. 
Throughout  Idaho,  Oregon,  California,  and  Nevada,  the  old-fash 
ioned  stamps  are  almost  exclusively  used.  They  are  simple  and 
easy  to  put  in  repair;  and  have  the  law  of  gravitation  to  help 
them.  They  are  also  more  durable — precisely  as  it  wears  the  face 
of  a  sledge-hammer  less  to  reduce  rock  by  pounding,  than  by  rub 
bing  it  to  powder.  Most  of  the  Idaho  machinery  is  from  Califor 
nia.  San  Francisco,  making  quartz  mills  a  specialty,  is  three  or 
four  years  in  advance  of  eastern  cities  in  all  improvements  which 


1865.]  'ITALIAN  SUMMEKS  AND  SYRIAN   WINTERS.'      507 

are  demonstrated  successes.  Beside,  the  quartz  mill  should  be  as 
near  the  foundry  as  possible,  for  '  shoes 7  and  '  dies '  wear  out 
rapidly ;  and  other  new  portions  are  often  required  at  short  notice, 
to  supply  breakages.  The  Chicago  mills  are  cheaper  and  better 
than  those  of  New  York;  but  their  foundries  are  too  far  away 
from  Idaho.  Chicago  and  St.  Louis  machinery  is  chiefly  used  in 
Colorado,  Utah,  and  Montana. 

Governor  Caleb  Lyon,  in  one  of  his  messages,  characterizes 
Idaho  as  *  a  land  of  Italian  summers  and  Syrian  winters.'  The 
summers  may  outshine  Araby  the  Blest;  but  I  think  he  should 
have  said  Siberian  winters.  My  Owyhee  visit  was  early  in  No 
vember.  Every  day  brought  its  own  separate  storm ;  and  most 
of  the  time  snow  enveloped  the  region.  During  the  previous 
winter,  it  covered  the  ground  from  November  twentieth  to  April 
first;  but  trappers  and  Indians  declared  that  the  severest  season 
they  had  ever  known. 

The  earliest  gold  discoveries  in  Idaho  date  back  to  the  summer 
of  1862.  These  were  placer  mines ;  the  first  quartz  lodes  were 
found  a  year  later.  Hundreds  of  miles  from  civilization,  in  un 
known  mountains  infested  by  fierce  Indians,  the  early  prospectors 
went  steadily  forward  for  many  lonely  months.  After  its  richness 
was  a  demonstrated  fact,  the  region  labored  under  great  disad 
vantages.  A  system  of  mining,  new  in  many  details,  was  to  be 
learned ;  for  quartz  differs  essentially  in  different  sections.  Labor 
and  living  commanded  enormous  prices.  Supplies  came  up  the 
Columbia,  and  then  over  the  Blue  Mountains  of  Oregon.  Freights 
from  San  Francisco  sometimes  cost  sixty-five  cents  a  pound,  in 
coin ;  and  from  Portland,  fifty  cents.  The  ordinary  expense  of 
sending  bars  of  gold  and  silver  to  California  and  getting  returns 
in  coin  was  seven  cents  on  every  dollar! 

During  my  stay,  eggs  were  retailing  at  two  dollars  and-a-half  a 
dozen  ;  laborers  receiving  five  dollars  per  day,  and  mechanics  from 
six  to  eight,  all  in  gold.  Money  loaned  at  from  three  to  five  per 
cent,  a  month. 

In  intervals  of  the  storms,  I  glanced  at  a  few  of  the  rich 
Owyhee  mines,  ii*  company  with  Messrs.  George  Collier  Bobbins, 
John  Wasson,  and  other  friends.  In  a  biting  wind  which  nearly 
swept  us  from  the  saddles,  our  horses  climbed  the  corkscrew  road 


508 


INTO    THE    ORO    FINO    MINE. 


[1865. 


which  winds  up  "War  Eagle  mountain.  We  found  the  crest 
covered  with  a  foot  of  snow ;  two  spots  never  lose  their  winter 
mantle  through  all  the  summer  months.  It  afforded  a  superb 
view  of  scores  of  the  lower  hills,  and  the  broad  valley  of  the 
Snake.  In  that  clear  atmosphere  we  saw  mountains  hundreds  of 
miles  distant. 

"We  threaded  the  tunnel  of  .the  Oro  Fino  mine,  five  hundred 
feet  horizontally,  to  its  terminus,  where  a  perpendicular  shaft  lets 
in  the  daylight  from  one  hundred  and  eighty  feet  above.  Pine 

timbers,  a  foot 
in  diameter,  rib 
the  roof,  extend 
ing  across  from 
wall  to  wall,  sep 
arated  by  strong 
upright  posts. 
These  quartz 
chambers  often 
look  frowning, 
but  accidents  are 
\  ery  rare ;  while 
in  hydraulic  and 
sluice  mining, 
where  there  is 
no  rock,  banks 
of  gravel  often 
cave  in  and  bury 

workmen.  The  Oro  Fino  walls  are  of  granite,  smooth  and  well 
defined,  from  two  to  seven  feet  apart.  The  ore  is  nearly  white ;  some 
is  as  soft  as  wax,  and  streaked  with  slate.  A  mill  eats  but  slowly 
into  a  rich,  broad  lode  like  this. 

"We  visited  several  other  mines  where  the  yield  of  the  ore  was 
reported  to  range  from  one  hundred  dollars  per  ton  up  to  five,  six, 
and  even  seven  hundred.  On  the  bleakest  summit  of  War  Eagle, 
the  freezing  wind  stung  our  faces  and  stopped  our  breath.  We 
saw  stakes  innumerable,  marking  the  courses  of*  lodes ;  and  shafts, 
tunnels,  and  ditches  without  limit,  for  prospecting  and  developing 
mines.  One  Oregon  company  had  spent  a  hundred  thousand  dol- 


EXAM1NING   THE    LEDGES  ON  WAR  EAGLE    MOUNTAIN. 


1865.] 


THE    GREAT    POORMAN    WAR. 


509 


lars  in  seeking  to  find  here  the  continuation  of  a  certain  ledge  of 
known  richness ;  but  had  not  succeeded. 

Our  last  visit  was  to  the  Hays-and-Kay.  At  one  of  its  tunnels, 
from  ore  so  soft  that  it  was  easily  cut  with  a  knife,  I  picked  sheets 
of  native  silver  as  large  as  a  half-dollar.  Higher  up  on  the  lode 
was  pointed  out  Fort  Baker,  a  log  building  fronted  by  breast 
works,  and  its  walls  pierced  for  rifles. 

Ye  who  listen  with  credulity  to  the  whispers  of  fancy,  and  pur 
sue  with  eagerness  the  phantoms  of  hope,  who  believe  silver  min 
ing  a  pacific  pursuit,  and  suppose  quartz  mills  not  subject  to  bom 
bardment,  attend  to  the  history  of  Fort  Baker  and  the  '  Poorman 
war!'  The  Hays-and-Ray  Lode,  as  claimed  and  staked,  was  six 
teen  hundred  feet  long.  Other  parties  afterward  claimed,  for  four 
teen  hundred  feet,  a  lode  which  they  called  the  Poorman,  crossing 
the  Hays-and- 
Ray  at  an  

acute  angle, 
the  two  lines 
of  stakes  ex 
actly  repre 
senting  the  let 
ter  X.  The 
Poor  man  party 
began  to  work 
their  lode,  not 
at  either  end, 
but  at  the  very 
point  of  cross 
ing  the  Hays- 
and-Ray  ;  and 
there  struck  a 
1  pocket '  or 

1  chimney  '  of  ore  of  unprecedented  richness — almost  pure  silver^ 
Portions  of  it  yielded  sixty  per  cent,  of  bullion — a  result  never 
before  equaled  in  mining  history.  The  Poorman  owners,  it  was 
alleged,  took  out  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars  in  two 
weeks.  They  carried  large  quantities  of  the  rock  on  the  backs  of 
mules,  over  the  mountains,  to  be  crushed  in  Portland. 

33 


FORT    BAKER   AND   POORMAN   MINE. 


510      MUCH   CAPITAL   RECKLESSLY  SQUANDERED.    [1865. 

The  Hays-and-Ray  proprietors  claimed  that  the  adverse  party 
were  reducing  their  ore.  The  '  Poorman '  not  only  denied  this, 
but,  with  an  armed  force,  drove  off  the  Hays-and-Ray  workmen 
from  a  portion  of  the  ledge,  and  prepared  for  bloody  warfare. 
And  hence  Fort  Baker  was  erected. 

The  United  States  district  court  granted  an  injunction,  restrain 
ing  the  Poorman  party  from  taking  out  more  ore,  until  both  claim 
ants  could  sink  shafts,  and  trace  their  veins,  and  a  jury  decide 
which  owned  the  disputed  mineral.  This  just  and  equitable  de 
cision  excited  so  much  feeling,  that  threats  of  tarring  and  feather 
ing  the  judge  were  even  made  by  the  friends  of  the  discomfited 
claimants.  But  the  belligerents  finally  compromised  the  matter 
and  consolidated  their  interests.  This  was  at  least  better  than  Ne 
vada  in  early  days,  when  in  great  quartz  cases,  one  party  and 
sometimes  both,  used  to  buy  witnesses,  jury,  sheriff,  prosecuting 
attorney  and  judge.  The  man  in  the  play  must  have  lived  in  a 
mining  region  before  he  learned  the  profound  truth,  that  '  Honesty 
is  the  root  of  all  evil,  and  money  is  the  best  policy.' 

Mail  coaches  ply  from  Owyhee  to  Virginia  Nevada,  and  three* 
fourths  of  the  supplies  for  the  Territory  come  by  that  route, 
hauled  from  the  eastern,  terminus  of  the  California  Pacific  rail' 
way.  The  completion  of  the  railroad  to  a  point  due  south  of 
Owyhee,  will  bring  the  most  important  settlements  of  Idaho 
within  three  days  of  San  Francisco.  The  intervening  country, 
at  some  points,  is  very  rugged.  In  Humboldt  Pass,  northern 
Nevada,  the  engineers  of  the  Union  Pacific  road  ran  their  line 
along  almost  perpendicular  walls,  hundreds  of  feet  above  the 
stream.  For  such  surveying  Blondin's  facility  on  the  tight  rope 
would  seem  a  more  valuable  preparation  than  any  degree  of  accom 
plishment  in  mathematical  science. 

The  first  newspaper  in  our  possessions  on  the  Pacific  coast, 
was  published  in  Idaho,  nearly  fifty  years  ago,  by  Spaulding,  a 
missionary  among  the  Pierced-nose  Indians.  A  log  hut  still 
marks  his  pioneer  office  ;  and  beside  it  trees  of  his  own  planting 
flourish  and  bear  fruit. 

The  crushing  mills  of  Idaho  contain  between  four  and  five 
hundred  stamps.  As  in  all  our  quartz  regions,  the  larger  portion 
of  eastern  capital  invested  has  been  squandered  through  incredi- 


1865.]       AGRICULTURAL    CAPACITY    OF    IDAHO.  511 


ble  incompetency,  recklessness  and  folly  of  management — through 
buying  worthless  mines  at  enormous  figures,  and  spending  im 
mense  sums  in  erecting  mills,  without  first  ascertaining  whether 
the  company  had  ore  which  would  justify  crushing.  But  enter 
prises  conducted  with  the  caution  and  good  judgment  requi 
site  to  success  in  any  other  legitimate  business,  have  yielded 
large  rewards.  Quartz  mining,  growing  year  by  year,  will  soon 
be  one  of  our 
leading  nation 
al  interests;  and 
no  other  pur 
suit  offers  larger 
inducements  to 
the  discriminat 
ing  application 
of  skill,  indus 
try  and  capital. 
Idaho,  one  of 
our  very  best 
mineral  States, 
has  little  land 
attractive  to  the 
farmer.  With 
irrigation  the 
narrow  -valleys 
of  the  Boise, 
the  Snake,  and 
their  few  trib 
utaries,  produce 
good  vegeta 
bles  and  small 
grain.  Wheat, 
barley  and  oats 

yield  from  twenty-five  to  fifty  bushels  to  the  acre ;  and  potatoes 
have  produced  two  hundred  and  fifty  bushels.  But  the  country 
will  never  raise  food  for  a  large  population.  Its  grazing  capacity 
is  excellent.  Even  these  barren  plains  do  not  escape  one  pest  of 
the  frontier.  Yearly,  clouds  of  grasshoppers  or  '  black  crickets/ 


SURVEYING  FOR   PACIFIC   RAILROAD,  HUMBOLDT   PASS,  NEVADA. 


512  ROBBEKIES    OF    THE    MAIL    COACH.  [1865. 

covering  the  ground  like  a  sable  mantle,,  have  swept  the  coun 
try  in  July  and  August,  destroying  the  crops.  The  moun- 
tains  are  well  timbered  and  abound  in  game.  The  population  of 
the  Territory  is  about  twenty -five  thousand.  Though  the  win 
ters  are  long  and  severe,  the  average  temperature  is  milder  than 
that  of  Illinois.  The  climate  is  exceedingly  healthy. 

Returning  from  Owyhee  to  Boise,  I  took  the  coach  for  Oregon. 
The  second  day,  at  Olds'  ferry,  we  crossed  Snake  river  into 
Oregon.  Instantly  it  began  to  rain,  and  continued  every  day 
afterward  until  I  left  the  State.  In  a  deep,  beautiful  valley  we 
dined  at  Miller's,  who  boasts  scores  of  sheep,  hundreds  of  cattle, 
and  an  immense  barn.  He  sells  fodder  to  winter  travelers  on  this 
great  thoroughfare,  but  never  feeds  it  to  his  own  stock.  A  ton  of 
hay  is  worth  more  than  an  ox  or  a  cow ;  so  the  poor  animals 
must  pick  up  their  own  subsistence  or  starve  to  death. 

Near  a  little  road-side  grocery,  supported  by  a  post  and  flanked 
by  an  empty  cask,  stood  a  Noble  Red  Man.  Indifferent  to  his 
tattered  clothing,  which  afforded  no  protection  from  the  sharp, 
wintry  nights — with  his  long  black  locks  flying  in  the  wind — his 
whole  soul  was  wrapped  in  a  whisky  bottle.  He  regarded  it 
with  a  fixed  stare,  in  which  satisfaction  at  the  quality  of  its  con 
tents  and  pensive  regret  at  their  diminishing  quantity  were  ludi 
crously  blended.  Mr.  Cooper  died  too  early.  I  think  one  glimpse 
of  this  Aboriginal  would  have  saved  his  pen  much  labor,  and  early 
American  literature  many  Indian  heroes. 

Among  these  lonely  hills,  a  few  weeks  earlier,  the  stage  was 
robbed  of  sixteen  thousand  dollars  in  the  hands  of  two  Jewish 
merchants,  taking  money  to  San  Francisco  for  themselves  and 
their  brethren,  to  avoid  express  charges.  After  this  brilliant 
saving  at  the  spigot  to  lose  at  the  bung-hole,  they  began  to  trans 
mit  their  bullion  by  the  Wells-Fargo  express,  which  assumes 
all  risk  of  robberies.  Its  messengers  travel  thoroughly  armed, 
and  sometimes  repel  attacks  with  great  gallantry.  Only  two 
nights  before  we  passed,  an  unsuccessful  attempt  was  made  to 
rob  the  coach. 

On  the  fourth  morning,  beyond  Uniontown,  we  crossed  the 
Grand  Round  prairie,  thirty  miles  by  thirteen,  level  as  a  floor 
and  symmetrically  inclosed  by  mountain  walls.  Its  jet-black 


1865.] 


AMONG    THE    BLUE    MOUNTAINS. 


513 


soil  looks  like  Kansas  or  Iowa,  producing  excellent  grass  and 
wheat,  but  too  cold  for  corn.  It  seems  to  be  an  old  lake  bed,  and  is 
submerged  a  part  of  the  year.  On  one  side  is  a  hot  sulphur 
spring,  with  a  basin  covering 
an  acre.  Lewis  and  Clark,  half 
a  century  ago,  noted  the  beau 
ty  and  richness  of  this  little 
valley. 

Beyond,  in  deep,  treacherous 
mud,  which  threatened  to  cap 
size  us  every  five  minutes,  we 
began  to  ascend  the  Blue 
Mountains.  They  are  fitly 
named ;  under  white,  gauzy 
clouds  robing  their  snowy 
peaks,  they  are  of  deepest, 
richest  blue. 

Among  the  vehicular  wrecks 
along  our  fathomless  road,  was 
a  three-horse  ambulance,  load 
ed  with  apples,  one  fore-wheel 
so  utterly  crushed  to  frag 
ments  that  it  might  have  be 
longed  to  the  original  *  one-hoss  shay.'  On  a  log  sat  the  driver 
eating  an  apple,  and  viewing  the  ruins  with  the  utmost  serenity. 

1  Rather  heavy  that;'  ventured  one  of  our  passengers. 

'  Yes,'  he  replied,  complacently,   '  rather  heavy  on  one  wheel !' 

In  the  deep  mountains,  whose  grand  sweeps  revealed  great  ex 
panses  of  yellow  pines,  our  horses  wallowed  along,  the  coach  rock 
ing  like  a  ship  in  a  storm.  After  dark,  our  road  was  blocked  by 
an  emigrant,  his  horses  hopelessly  down  in  the  mud,  and  his  wife 
and  three  little  children  sitting  forlorn  upon  a  snow-bank,  half- 
covered  with  fast-falling  flakes.  Two  babies  were  crying,  and  the 
group  formed  a  picture  of  utter  dreariness  and  despair. 

We  rolled  the  horses  three  or  four  times  over,  down  the  hill 
side,  till  they  again  found  their  legs ;  and  our  driver  hitched  his 
own  team  to  the  stranded  wagon  and  hauled  it  out  of  the  quag 
mire.  Then,  taking  the  woman  and  children,  we  toiled  slowly  on 


THE  NOBLE   RED  MAN. 


514 


A    NIGHT    AT    MEACHAM'S. 


[1865. 


in  the  darkness,  passing  several  other  emigrants  despairingly  mired. 
At  last,  blinking  lights,  through  the  deep,  pine  woods,  indicated 
our  approach  to  .Meacham's,  a  large,  cheery  log  station  on  the  sum 
mit,  where,  with  twenty  passengers  from  the  west,  with  a  roaring 
fire,  a  wholesome  supper,  late  newspapers  and  comfortable  beds, 
we  passed  the  night. 


'HEAVY  ON  ONE  WHEEL!' 

At  daylight  we  pressed  on,  in  an  open  wagon.  The  roads  hacl 
become  impassable  for  coaches,  and  abounded  in  vehicles  inextri 
cably  imbedded  in  mud.  Emerging  From  the  woods,  we  lobked 
down  upon  the  vast,  bare,  straw-colored  valley  of  the  Snake,  dap 
pled  with  sun  and  shade ;  and  upon  far,  dim  Walla  Walla,  the 
most  populous  town  of  Washington  Territory.  That  evening 
(the  fifth)  we  reached  Umatilla,  two  hundred  and  ninety  miles 
from  Boise.  In  summer  the  trip  is  made  in  two  days  and-a-half. 

Thence  I  took  steamer  down  the  beautiful  Columbia,  spending 


1865.] 


DOWN    THE    BEAUTIFUL    COLUMBIA. 


515 


one  day  at  the  pleasant  town  of  Dalles,  beside  the  boiling,  whirU 
ing,  surging  river.  From  this  point  Bierstadt  painted  his  Mount 
Hood.  For  nearly  one  hundred  miles  on  the  Columbia  we  see 
the  noble  mountain  towering,  up  grandly,  with  dark  base  and 
snowy  scalp,  though  at  the  nearest  point  it  is  forty  miles  away. 
It  is  chiefest  of  a  dozen  isolated  peaks  rising  from  the  backbone 


MOUNT   HOOD,    OREGOX,    FROM   DALLES   OF   COLUMBIA   RIVER, 

of  the  Cascade  Range.  Its  hight  is  variously  given  at  from  fourteen 
thousand  to  seventeen  thousand  feet.  It  has  been  disturbed  by 
several  eruptions,  simultaneously  with  earthquakes  at  San  Fran 
cisco  and  other  points  down  the  coast. 

At  Portland,  on  the  first  of  December,  I  found  roses  in  full 
bloom  in  the  open  air.  During  my  stay  in  the  pleasant  city,  the 
steamer  Pacific  arrived,  after  a  passage  of  six  days  from  San 
Francisco.  She  had  experienced  some  of  the  perils  of  winter 
navigation  on  this  hostile  coast.  The  weather  was  a  continuous 
gale,  and  the  ship  crowded.  She  had  no  mate  on  board ;  and  her 
pilot  died  during  the  trip.  For  three  days  and  nights  the  passen 
gers  were  shut  in  the  cabin ;  no  one  could  keep  the  deck  save  on 
hands  and  knees;  and  the  master,  Captain  Burns,  never  left  the 


516  LEWIS  AND  CLARK'S  OLD  CAMPING-GROUND.  [1865. 

wheel.     Once  he  was  compelled  to  turn  and  run  before  the  storm 
for  eighty  miles.     Being  nearly  out  of  coal,  he  could  not  go  back 

to  San  Francisco ;  and 
the  appalling  bar  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Columbia 
was  so  rough  that  he 
could  only  cross  at  im 
minent  peril.  Again 
and  again  he  approach 
ed  it ;  but  the  sea  raged 
so  madly  that  he  dared 
not  go  on.  At  last,  as 
children  shut  their  eyes 
before  plunging  into 
cold  water,  he  made  a 
desperate  attempt,  and 
by  good  fortune  suc 
ceeded  in  guiding  the 

FLATHEAD   INDIANS. 

ship  over  in  safety. 

By  the  return  trip  of  the  Pacific  I  went  down  the  river,  past 
Astoria,  past  the  second  winter-encampment  where  daring  old 
Lewis  and  Clark  rested  when  half  their  wonderful  journey  was 
accomplished.  In  their  notes,  taken  here,  they  report : 

'  The  practice  of  flattening  the  head  by  artificial  measures  during  infancy  prevails 
here  and  among  all  the  nations  we  have  seen  west  of  the  Rocky  Mountains ;  whereas  to 
the  east  of  that  barrier  the  practice  is  perfectly  unknown.  This  Columbus  noted  when 
he  first  landed  in  America.  Soon  after  birth  the  child's  head  is  placed  between  boards 
tightly  strapped,  and  kept  there  ten  or  twelve  months.  The  operation  is  so  gradual 
as  not  to  be  attended  with  pain.  The  beads  of  children  are  not  more  than  two 
inches  thick  about  the  upper  edge  of  the  forehead  ;  and  still  thinner  when  first  released 
from  the  bandage.  The  heads  of  adults  are  often  a  straight  line  from  the  nose  to  the 
top  of  the  forehead. 

The  flowing  of  the  great  river  to  the  sea  has  been  sung  by  Mrs. 
Frances  Fuller  Victor,  in  a  strain  worthy  of  the  inspiring  theme: 

The  blue  Columbia,  sired  by  the  eternal  hills 

And  wedded  with  the  sea, 
O'er  golden  sands,  tithes  from  a  thousand  rills, 

Rolled  in  lone  majesty — 


1865.]    OUR  QUARTZ  REGIONS  FULL  OF  INTEREST.        517 

Through  deep  ravine,  through  burning,  barren  plain, 

Through  wild  and  rocky  strait, 
Through  forest  dark,  and  mountains  rent  in  twain 

Toward  the  sunset  gate. 
While  curious  eyes,  keen  with  the  lust  of  gold, 

Caught  not  the  informing  gleam, 
These  mighty  breakers  age  on  age  have  rolled 

To  meet  this  mighty  stream  ; 

Age  after  age  these  noble  hills  have  kept, 

The  same  majestic  lines ; 
Age  after  age  the  horizon's  edge  been  swept 

By  fringe  of  pointed  pines. 
Summers  and  winters  circling  came  and  went, 

Bringing  no  change  of  scene ; 
Unresting,  and  unhasting,  and  unspent, 

Dwelt  Nature  here  serene, 

Till  God's  own  time  to  plant  of  Freedom's  seed 

In  this  selected  soil, 
Denied  forever  unto  blood  and  greed, 

But  blest  to  honest  toil. 
******* 

Be  mine  the  dreams  prophetic,  shadowing  forth 

The  things  that  yet  shall  be, 
When  through  this  gate  the  treasures  of  the  North 

Flow  outward  to  the  sea. 

Doubly  pleasant  seemed  the  kindly  greetings  and  the  cheerful 
comforts  of  San  Francisco,  after  these  long  mountain  wanderings. 
But  our  wild  quartz  regions  are  ever  full  of  interest  to  the  thought 
ful  visitor.  Their  early  settlers  have  braved  Indians  and  elements, 
endured  hard  fare,  hard  work,  long  banishment  from  civilization 
and  from  home.  His  spirit  must  be  poor  indeed,  who  can  see  in 
this  nothing  more  than  narrow  greed  for  gold.  With  honorable 
ambition  for  pecuniary  success,  it  blends  that  marvelous  pioneer 
instinct  which  in  thirty  years  has  carried  our  freedom  and  our  flag 
from  the  Mississippi  to  the  Pacific — conquered  half  a  continent  for 
the  future  home  of  fifty  millions  of  self-governed  people,  speaking 
the  same  language,  obeying  the  same  laws,  acknowledging  the 
game  religion,  of  divine  love  and  human  brotherhood.  « 


518  THE    TELEGRAPH    ALWAYS    A    MIRACLE.       [1865. 


CHAPTER    XLII. 

ON  a  December  afternoon  I  left  San  Francisco  by  a  little  steamer 
which  plies  across  the  bay  and  winds  up  Petal uma  creek  or  bayou 
— a  channel  crooked  as  a  corkscrew,  and  often  too  narrow  for  a 
boat  to  turn  around  in,  or  for  one  to  pass  another. 

Spending  the  night  at  Petaluma,  the  head  of  navigation,  I 
strolled  into  the  telegraph  office  for  an  evening  chat  with  Dr. 
Lovejoy,  the  superintendent — a  relative  of  Elijah  P.  Lovejoy, 
who  was  murdered  by  a  mob  at  Alton  Illinois  in  1837,  be 
cause  he  persisted  in  discussing  slavery  through  his  weekly  relig 
ious  newspaper.  Now,  when  we  go  all  over  the  world  to  find 
marble  white  enough  for  those  who  fell  later,  why  have  we  no 
memorial  of  that  young  hero  who  gave  the  flower  of  his  days, 
capacity  of  high  order,  and  finally  life  itself,  in  defense  of  the 
right  to  speak  and  to  print? 

During  our  conversation,  the  operator,  hearing  a  misdirected 
dispatch  for  me  passing  over  the  wires  to  Healdsburg,  caught  it  on 
the  wing,  and  transcribed  it.  The  telegraph  is  a  perpetual  miracle. 
No  familiarity  however  long,  makes  it  prosaic.  How  rarely  its 
confidences  are  violated !  Yet  daily  the  most  important  and  deli 
cate  messages  are  sent  for  thousands  of  miles,  where  every  operator 
on  the  line  may  hear  them  passing. 

To  what  curious  skill  it  trains  the  ear!  An  expert  telegrapher 
stands  in  the  middle  of  a  room  where  twenty  instruments  are  tap 
ping  out  messages  from  as  many  different  places,  and  easily  reads 
by  sound,  any  one  of  them,  not  in  the  least  confused  by  the  rest. 
Once,  in  a  disagreement,  the  Cincinnati  Gazette  was  cut  off  from  the 
dispatches  of  the  Associated  Press.  But  still  when  important  news 
came  over  the  wires,  the  Gazette  always  obtained  and  printed  it. 


1865.]     INGENIOUS    NEWSPAPERIAL    STRATEGY. 


519 


The  association,  chagrined  at  finding  its  excommunication  harm 
less,  was  glad  to  make  terms  again  with  a  newspaper  which,  denied 
the  privilege  of  paying  for  its  bulletins,  succeeded  in  getting 
them  without  paying.  The  telegraph  company  believed  that  some 
treacherous  employe  had  been  stealing  the  dispatches.  But  the 
truth  was,  during  summer,  press  news  came  late  at  night,  when  the 
city  was  very  still.  The  telegraph  office  was  in  the  upper  story  of 


MADRONA  TREE,  HEALDSBURG,    CALIFORNIA. 

a  high  building  on  the  south  side  of  Third  street.  The  Gazette 
employed  a  first  class  operator  to  stand  on  the  north  side.  At 
that  great  distance,  as  the  messages  were  spelled  by  the  instru 
ment,  he  heard  them  through  the  open  windows,  and  transcribed 
them  in  his  note-book  under  a  street  lamp ! 

How  unmistakably  individuality  comes  out,  in  this  conversa 
tion  through  a  system  of  the  most  delicate  lines  and  the  minutest 
dots !  The  Baltimore  operator  sitting  at  his  table,  reads  by  sound 
the  messages  always  clicking  to  and  fro  between  Washington 
and  Philadelphia,  New  York  and  Boston.  And  after  hearing  half 


520  A    STORY    OF    THE    REBELLION.  [1865. 

a  dozen  words  of  any  dispatch,  he  can  tell  who  is  the  sender,  out 
of  all  the  hundred  employees  with  whose  telegraph-writing  he 
is  familiar. 

During  one  of  John  Morgan's  raids  into  Indiana,  he  entered  the 
telegraph  office  of  an  interior  village;  and  with  drawn  revolver 
commanded  the  operator  to  ask  a  neighboring  town  on  the  Ohio 
river,  whether  any  Federal  gunboats  were  there.  The  young  man 
could  give  no  warning ; — there  was  the  six-shooter,  and  a  rebel 
telegrapher  who  accompanied  Morgan  eyed  him  like  a  lynx.  So 
he  made  the  simple  inquiry.  But  the  operator  at  the  river  no 
ticed  the  tremulousness  and  excitement  in  the  sensitive  metallic 
voice  asking  the  question,  and  instantly  surmised  the  cause.  There 
were,  no  gunboats  within  twenty  miles ;  but  he  promptly  replied : 

*  There  are  two  at  the  landing ;  and  from  my  window  I  see 
three  more  just  coming  around  the  bend  !' 

This  was  enough  for  Morgan.  He  sought  some  safer  point  for 
recrossing  the  river. 

In  Sacramento  one  evening,  I  sat  beside  an  operator  while  the 
circuit  was  opened  across  the  continent,  for  a  little  chatting  be 
tween  the  offices  along  the  line  before  saying  *  Good  night.'  This 
message  came  from  New  York : 

'  Fire  this  moment  broken  out  think  on  Chambers  street  near 
City  Hall  Park.' 

While  it  was  being  spelled,  my  companion  learned  from  the 
style  of  transmission  who  was  the  sender,  and  told  me  his  name. 
Wonderful  the  invention  through  which,  half  across  the  world, 
men  can  talk  familiarly,  as  we  converse  face  to  face!  Far 
more  wonderful  the  individuality  which  so  reveals  itself  in  the 
tapping  of  a  little  key,  that  we  recognize  it  three  thousand 
miles  away ! 

The  next  morning  I  continued  on  by  stage.  The  jet-black 
prairie  soil,  which  the  drivers  call  'adobe,'  is  dotted  with  park- 
like  groves  of  live-oak,  and  resembles  portions  of  Texas.  Low, 
flat  and  rich,  abounding  in  pleasant  shaded  homes,  it  is  excellent 
farming  land,  requiring  no  irrigation,  and  producing  forty  to  sixty 
bushels  of  corn  to  the  acre. 

Most  of  the  settlers  are  from  prolific  Missouri.  Their  neigh 
bors  of  Yankee  origin  declare  that  they  are  '  shiftless ;'  that  if 


1865.]  HEALDSBURG    AND    FOS  S -STATION.  521 

one  had  to  enter  a  field  every  day  in  the  year,  he  would  never  make 
a  gate  or  even  a  pair  of  bars,  but  only  a  gap  in  his  hereditary 
Virginia  fence. 

In  the  afternoon  we  reached  Healdsburg,  an  agreeable  village, 
shaded  with  live-oaks  and  madronas,  or  mountain  laurels.  Here 
the  live-oak  attains  perfection.  I  have  seen  no  other  tree  so 
beautiful  save  the  elm  of  the  Connecticut  valley.  The  madrona 
too,  with  its  vivid  green  foliage,  bright  red  stems  and  exquisite 
outline,  is  a  marvel  of  grace  and  loveliness.  One,  in  the  princi 
pal  street  of  the  town,  towering  and  spreading  far  above  the 
highest  buildings,  is  singularly  picturesque  and  venerable.  The 
boughs  of  all  trees  are  richly  festooned  with  great  bunches  of 
mistletoe. 

From  Healdsburg,  Clark  T.  Foss,  famous  hereabout  for  good 
fare  and  uncomfortably-fast  driving,  took  me  eight  miles  to  his 
station,  where  I  spent  the  night.  It  occupies  a  little  circular  valley, 
and  is  the  head  of  wagon  navigation  in  winter.  It  has  an  immense 
barn,  with  great  watering  trough;  and  a  long  low  snow-white 
cottage,  with  ample  verandahs,  which  nestles  among  encircling 
hills  of  deep  green,  like  a  marble  effigy  in  a  niche  of  emerald. 
In  summer  it  is  crowded  with  visitors.  Now  it  was  deserted  save 
by  Foss  and  one  hired  man  ;  but  very  pleasant  was  the  evening 
before  its  blazing  log  fire,  and  the  night  in  one  of  its  inviting 
beds. 

In  the  morning  we  started  on  horseback  for  the  Geysers,  twelve 
miles  distant,  through  a  nipping  and  eager  air  which  made  fingers 
tingle.  We  passed  a  single  dwelling ;  hundreds  of  grazing  sheep ; 
and  one  immense  doe  with  her  long-legged  fawn,  galloping  along 
the  crests. 

A  few  miles  to  our  left  were  the  snowy  peaks  of  the  Coast 
Kange;  and  nearer,  deep-down  under  our  feet,  the  magnificent 
valley  of  Russian  river,  dotted  with  live-oak  and  redwood — a 
valley  of  rolling  ridges,  pleasant  farm-houses  with  great  barns, 
and  broad,  green  meadows,  their  brooks  and  lakelets  shining  like 
mirrors. 

After  climbing  for  several  miles,  our  path  winds  along  a  unique 
natural  embankment,  known  as  the  Hog-back — a  mountain  sum 
mit,  like  a  ridge-pole  on  a  steep  roof  Now  the  rains  had  cut  and 


522 


THE    ROAR    OF    THE    GEYSERS. 


[1865. 


gashed  it  until,  at  some  points,  our  horses  could  barely  find  a 
path ;  but,  repaired  in  summer,  it  is  just  wide  enough  for  carriage- 


ALONG   THE    HOG-BACK. 


wheels.  On 
each  side  one 
looks  down 
a  precipitous 
bank  fifteen 
hundred  or  two 
thousand  feet. 
I  think  Foss's 
idea  of  para 
dise  is  to  drive  a  coach-load  of  passengers,  six-in-hand,  twelve 
miles  an  hour,  along  some  dizzy  road  like  this.  If  the  wheels 
happened  to  diverge  ten  inches  from  the  track,  the  load  would 
reach  the  bottom  much  in  the  condition  of  a  bushel  of  apples 
after  passing  through  a  cider-mill. 

Timid  visitors  hold  him  in  mortal  terror.  One  lady,  learn 
ing  that  he  was  to  be  her  driver,  jumped  out  of  the  vehicle, 
steadfastly  refusing  to  ride  behind  such  a  reckless  Jehu.  But 
though  he  has  conveyed  hundreds  of  persons  to  and  fro,  he 
never  met  with  a  single  accident. 

Two  miles  from  the  Geysers  we  began  to  hear  them  roar  like 
ocean  steamers.  The  smoke  is  sometimes  seen  here;  but  this 
morning  the  atmosphere  was  not  favorable.  We  were  now  four 
teen  hundred  feet  higher  than  Foss-station,  and  five  thousand  feet 


1865.]       PLUTON    RIVER    AXD    DEVIL'S    CANYON.  523 

above  the  sea.  From  this  point,  our  road  abruptly  pitches  down 
into  the  sulphurous  valley.  In  the  remaining  two  miles,  it  de 
scends  sixteen  hundred  feet,  with  thirty-five  sharp  turns,  often  on 
the  edge  of  precipitous  banks.  In  August,  Foss  drove  Messrs. 
Colfax,  Bross  and  Bowles  down  this  steep  grade  in  ten  minutes. 
At  first  it  made  them  shiver;  but  growing  accustomed  to  the 
break-neck  pace,  they  enjoyed  it  keenly. 

Turning  a  corner,  I  saw  the  column  of  smoke  from  Steamboat 
spring,  rising  fully  three  hundred  feet  from  the  ground.  At  this 
distance  it  sounds  like  a  railway  train  in  motion  ;  but  nearer  it  is 
a  perfect  imitation  of  a  great  boat  blowing  off  her  steam. 

Down  at  the  very  foot  of  the  valley,  in  sight  of  hundreds  of 
steam-jets  puffing  up  from  the  ground,  we  dismounted  by  the 
hotel,  a  pleasant,  two-story-and-L  white  building,  in  summer  filled 
with  visitors,  but  now  quite  abandoned.  In  the  season  it  accom 
modates  six  hundred  guests.  (Three  dollars  per  day,  or  fifteen 
dollars  per  week,  coin.) 

Pluton  river,  twenty  or  thirty  feet  wide,  and  running  west 
ward,  tumbles  laughingly  down  the  rocks,  shaded  by  overhanging 
trees  and  vines.  On  its  south  bank  we  first  visited  the  Iron 
spring,  a  little  basin  two  or  three  feet  square.  The  water,  in 
tensely  irony  to  the  taste,  is  covered  with  a  yellowish-green  scum 
and  discolors  every  thing  in  the  vicinity.  With  the  late  fall  fresh 
ets  the  rustic  log  bridge  spanning  the  river,  had  gone  on  a  voy 
age  of  discovery  ;  so  we  crossed  the  stream  as  best  we  might  by 
jumping  from  rock  to  rock. 

Then  we  were  at  the  mouth  of  the  Devil's  canyon,  which  shuts 
in  a  little  lateral  creek  running  south  and  emptying  into  Pluton 
river.  On  this  branch  of  the  main  stream  are  the  principal  Gey 
sers.  Two  hundred  yards  up  the  creek  we  reached  the  bath 
houses.  The  water,  pure  and  cold  at  the  h'Sad  of  the  stream  half 
a  mile  above,  then  heated  by  the  springs,  and  afterward  cooling 
by  exposure  to  the  air,  is  here  just  warm  enough  for  pleasant 
ablution. 

The  steep  walls  of  the  narrow  ravine  rise  from  fifty  to  one  hun 
dred  and  fifty  feet — bare,  spongy,  ashen,  clayey  soil,  without  the 
faintest  sign  of  grass  or  shrub.  Through  this  chasm  rushes  the 
curious  stream.  The  narrow  summer-path  beside  it  was  now 


524  GROTTO;  DEVIL'S  WASH-BOWL  AND  KITCHEN.  [1865 

washed  away,  compelling  us  to  climb  the  slippery  rocks,  and  some 
times  to  trust  the  seething,  uncertain  earth. 

Soon  we  were  among  clouds  of  stearn  issuing  from  the  soil  at 
the  water's  edge,  and  thence  extending  far  up  the  bank  ;  the  mud 
everywhere  too  hot  for  one  to  bear  his  hand  in  it.  We  visited 
the  Grotto,  where  tree-trunks  and  branches  extend  across  the 

creek,  over  wild,  jagged  rocks  ; 
and  then  a  delicious  little  cas 
cade  which  forms  a  natural 
cold  shower-bath.  Now  we 
began  to  encounter  hot  streams 
bubbling  up  beside  the  creek, 
some  clear  and  blue,  others, 
within  two  foot  of  them,  black  ; 
some  very  bitter,  forming  white 
incrustations  of  salt,  and  others 
depositing  fine-fibred,  exquisite 
flowers  of  sulphur,  like  delicate 

r 


REEK 


DIAGRAM   OF   DEVIL'S   CANYON. 


,  _       . 

yellow  or  black  moss.  Hot, 
cold,  and  boiling  springs  are  side  by  side,  each  with  its  own  indi 
vidual  hue  :  blue,  brown,  black,  red,  green,  yellow,  pink  or 


We  passed  the  Devil's  Wash-bowl,  the  Devil's  Kitchen  and 
other  localities  quite  as  infernal  in  sound  heat  and  smell  as  in 
name.  The  jets  of  steam  and  the  bubbling  up  of  hot  water  are 
curious  enough  ;  but  the  boiling  within  hundreds  of  cavities 
under  ground,  dimly  seen  but  clearly  heard  through  their  narrow 
mouths,  is  far  more  startling  and  impressive.  The  different 
springs  emit  many  varieties  of  sound  :  the  singing  of  a  tea-kettle  ; 
the  pulpy  boiling  of  a  huge  tank  of  potatoes  ;  the  distant  roar  of 
a  great  quartz-crusher  ;  the  cob-cracking  of  a  grist-mill  ;  the 
sough  of  the  wind  ;  the  murmur  of  the  pine  ;  the  dash  of  the 
waves  ;  all  liquid,  vibrating,  tremulous  tones. 

The  principal  group  is  beside  the  creek  for  a  quarter  of  a  mile  ; 
but  there  are  fully  one  thousand  places  where  steam  issues  from 
the  banks.  At  times  the  ground  shakes  so  as  to  rattle  crockery 
in  the  hotel,  one-third  of  a  mile  away.  The  earth  tre-mbles  and 
shudders  as  if  in  terror  of  going  back  to  the  first  throbs  of  Chaos, 


1865.]  WITCHES'  CALDRON;   CRATER;  VENT  HOLES.    525 

of  being  again  without  form  and  void,   and  darkness  upon  the 
face  of  the  deep. 

The  Witches'  Caldron  was  seven  feet  deep,  with  circular  walls 
.two  or  three  yards  across ;  but  the  lower  part  of  the  rocky  rim 
has  broken 
away,  leaving 
only  a  little 
seething  pool 
of  inky  black 
ness,  so  hot 
that  it  will 
boil  an  egg. 
Several  times 
we  burned 
our  fingers, 
and  caught 
stifling  blasts 
from  the  hot 
natural  fur 
naces. 

At  the  head 
of  the  can 
yon,  fifty  feet 
up  a  sharp 
hill,  is  Steam 
boat  spring, 
greatest  of  all. 
It  has  no  wa 
ter,  but  con 
sists  entirely  of  steam.  "We  climbed  the  bank  and  crept  over  brittle, 
yielding  earth  as  near  the  rnoftth  as  we  dared.  Its  aperture  is  as 
large  as  the  body  of  a  man.  la  the  shifting  wind,  the  enveloping, 
scorching,  sulphurous  steam  is-  neither  pleasant  nor  safe;  but  its 
constant  roar  and  its  great  column,  rising  upright  for  hundreds  of 
feet,  are  peculiarly  impressive. 

Recrossing  the  gorge,  we  ascended  a  high  plateau,  with  a 
broken  rim,  called  the  Crater,  and  really  suggesting  the  mouth  of 
an  extinct  volcano.  Here  are  the  Vent  Holes,  two  springs  a 

34 


WITCHES'    CALDRON,    CALIFORNIA   GEYSERS. 


526  THE    WONDEKS    OF    CALIFOKNIA.  [1865. 

few  feet  apart,  which  will  boil  an  egg  in  a  minute  and-a-half ;  and 
from  which  steam  escapes  with  great  force.  A  stone  as  large  as 
one's  fist,  dropped  into  either  of  them,  bounds  up  three  or  four 
feet  like  an  India-rubber  ball.  I  confess  a  boyish  desire  to  see 
two  steam  whistles  inserted  here,  and  listen  to  their  shrill,  un 
ceasing,  maddening  screech.  I  know  of  no  place  where  so  much 
noise  could  be  had  for  so  little  money. 

Coming  down,  we  passed  one  new  hot  spring  which  had  broken 
out  on  the  greensward  within  a  few  weeks ;  and  saw  another  of 
recent  birth  where  the  bank  was  one  hundred  feet  higher  than  at 
any  of  the  rest.  Even  within  a  few  yards  of  each  other  they 
vary  greatly  in  altitude. 

Other  geysers  abound  for  six  miles  along  PI uton  river;  but  I 
have  named  the  largest  and  most  interesting.  In  character  their 
variety  is  very  great ;  though  soda,  magnesia,  alum,  Epsom  salts 
and  various  salts  of  iron  predominate.  They  seem  great  safety 
valves  and  vent-holes  of  the  globe ;  but  actually  are  not  volcanic. 
They  are  one  of  Nature's  great  laboratories,  produced  by  the 
chemical  action  of  acids  in  the  earth. 

When  their  discoverer  first  stumbled  upon  them,  his  sensations 
must  have  been  worth  experiencing.  Indians,  who  regard  them 
with  wildest  terror,  cannot  be  induced  to  approach;  and  some 
white  visitors  never  dare  to  enter  the  canyon.  The  smell  of 
brimstone,  hissing  of  steam,  seething  and  throbbing  of  struggling 
waters,  and  the  underground  roaring  and  trembling,  do  seem 
peculiarly  diabolical,  and  suggest  the  Inferno  very  thinly  crusted 
over. 

Travelers  declare  that  these  springs  far  surpass  the  famed  gey 
sers  of  Iceland.  They  are  certainly  one  -of  the  rarest  features  of 
a  section  where  Nature  delights  to  show  the  cunning  of  her  hand. 
Of  all  the  States  which  the  great  Pacific  railway  will  open  to  the 
annual  army  of  summer  travelers — the  seekers  of  health,  of  rest, 
and  of  pleasure,  from  our  own  and  other  lands — California  will 
be  most  sought  and  enjoyed.  No  other  region  of  equal  area  can 
boast  half  her  natural  beauties  and  wonders.  The  Yosemite, 
Sierras,  Shasta,  Big  Trees,  Geysers  and  glorious  Lake  Tahoe 
gtre  among  the  first  curiosities  of  the  universe. 


1865.]       'STEAMER-DAY'  IN  SAN  FEANCISCO.  527 


CHAPTER    XLIII. 

ON  the  morning  of  December  nineteenth  I  started  homeward 
from  San  Francisco.  Once,  almost  the  entire  population  rushed 
to  the  wharf  on  the  departure  of  a  mail  ship.  *  Steamer  day '  is 
still  a  great  event.  Everybody  spends  the  night  before  in  writing 
letters ;  and  for  the  last  hour  one  or  two  thousand  persons  crowd 
the  decks  of  the  departing  vessel.  Some  go  to  say  'Good -by,'  some 
from  curiosity,  and  some  as  a  general  tribute  of  remembrance  to 
the  old  home,  by  the  sea  route  six  thousand  miles  away. 

At  eleven  o'clock  outsiders  hasten  ashore ;  the  gong  sounds ;  and 
with  hundreds  of  fluttering  handkerchiefs  and  pantomime  kisses  to 
receding  faces  on  the  wharf,  the  great  steamer  slowly  rounds 
and  passes  out  at  the  Golden  Gate,  on  her  voyage  of  thirty 
two  hundred  miles,  from  thirty-eight  north  latitude,  to  within 
seven  degrees  of  the  equator. 

San  Francisco  harbor  is  not  only  one  of  the  most  beautiful,  but 
one  of  the  most  defensible  in  the  world.  A  notable  feature  of 
the  region  is  seen  from  the  Cliff  House,  on  the  shore  four  miles 
from  the  city.  Here  are  scores  of  monstrous  seals  known  as  sea- 
lions,  which  sometimes  weigh  two  thousand  pounds.  They  disport 
on  rocks  near  the  land,  their  huge  forms  leaping  and  tumbling  in 
awkward  exuberance.  Their  eye  bears  a  strange  resemblance  to 
that  of  a  human  being,  and  their  barking  is  somewhat  like  that  of 
a  dog.  It  is  made  a  penal  offense  to  kill  or  injure  them,  as  the 
Californians  naturally  desire  to  preserve  so  rare  a  curiosity  at  the 
very  doors  of  their  great  city. 

The  ships  of  the  Pacific  Mail  Company,  running  monthly  from 
China  and  Japan  to  San  Francisco,  and  tri-monthly  from  San 
Francisco  to  Panama  and  from  Aspinwall  to  New  York,  include 


528  FINEST    VESSELS    IN    THE    WOKLD.  [1865 

the  finest  vessels  in  the  world.  The  largest  are  three  hundred  and 
sixty  feet  in  length,  of  five  thousand  tons  burden,  and  have  cost 
about  one  million  dollars  each.  Elegantly  appointed,  ably  com* 
manded,  the  perfection  of  system,  they  are  at  the  head  of  our  na 
tional  marine  and  an  honor  to  American  enterprise. 

Oar  steamer,  one  of  the  earlier  and  smaller  ones,  was  the  Sac 
ramento,  commanded  by  Captain  J.  M.  Cavarly.  She  can  carry 
one  thousand  people.  Her  upper  deck,  one-sixteenth  of  a  mile 
long,  affords  a  splendid  promenade. 

The  great  ocean  is  as  calm  to-day  as  when  Ferdinand  Magellan, 
after  sailing  for  weeks  without  meeting  a  single  adverse  breeze, 
named  it  the  Pacific.  Vessels  here  can  have  more  room,  and  re 
quire  less  strength,  than  on  the  stormy  Atlantic.  The  sleeping 
apartments  extend  far  over  the  water,  upon  supporting  plat 
forms.  On  either  side  the  Sacramento  has  a  row  of  three-berth 
state-rooms  built  entirely  outside  her  hull;  and  still  beyond  them 
the  guards,  wide  enough  for  sitting  and  promenading. 

Her  complement  of  men  is  about  one  hundred,  all  thoroughly 
drilled  for  duty.  One  day  the  long,  shrill  '  fire-blast '  was  sounded 
upon  the  steam  whistle.  Every  man  sprang  to  his  post;  and  in 
four  minutes  eighteen  streams  of  water  were  being  thrown 
by  steam.  Once  every  voyage  the  crew  is  exercised  in  this 
fire-drill.  Water-pipes  ready  for  use,  permeate  all  parts  of 
the  ship  like  great  arteries ;  and  with  the  alarm  promptly  given 
flames  would  be  instantly  extinguished. 

The  first-cabin  passengers  always  embrace  many  cultivated, 
traveled  and  agreeable  persons.  Their  average  is  said  to  be  higher 
than  upon  any  other  route  in  the  world.  On  the  first  day  out, 
they  are  assigned  places  for  meals;  and  nine-tenths  are  always  disap 
pointed  at  exclusion  from  the  captain's  table,  the  one  especially 
desired.  But  they  soon  console  themselves  by  cultivating  each 
other,  compelled  by  affinities  and  repulsions  into  groups  and  co 
teries.  They  breakfast  at  eight,  lunch  at  one  and  dine  at  five. 

The  second-cabin  passengers,  whose  state-rooms  are  not  so  good, 
eat  from  the  same  tables  but  at  different  hours.  The  steerage 
berths  are  comfortable  and  very  tidy.  Their  inmates  take  their 
meals  standing;  but  have  a  new  t>ill-of-fare  for  every  day  in  the 
All  the  compartments,  steerage,  cabins,  engine  rooms, 


1865.] 


CAPTAINS'  WIVES  NOT  ADMITTED. 


529 


kitchen,  bakery,  and  butcher-shops,  are  clean  as  a  drawing-room ; 
plates  bright;  knives,  forks  and  spoons  shining;  and  every  thing 
like  clock-work. 

The  vessel  is  a  great  hotel  in  motion,   with  the  disadvantage 


SEA-LIONS,  SAX  FRANCISCO  BAY. 


that  it  can 
send  to 
market  on 
ly  once  in 
two  weeks. 
On  the  Pa 
cific  side 
cattle  are 
carried  a- 

long  to  supply  the  tables  with  beef.     On  the  Atlantic,  meats  are 
brought  from  New  York,  packed  in  ice. 

The  vigilant  captains  inspect  every  corner  of  the  vessel  at  least 
twice  a  day.  They  are  justly  proud  of  their  ships.  No  comman 
der  can  take  his  wife  with  him,  even  by  paying  her  fare.  On 
most  steamships  and  many  sailing  vessels  this  rule  is  enforced,  lest 
in  fire  or  storm  the  master  should  neglect  his  passengers  to  save 
his  family.  On  Sundays  the  service  of  the  Episcopal  church  is 
performed  in  the  first  cabin. 


530  GULL,    ALBATKOSS    AND    PORPOISE.  [1865. 

We  left  San  Francisco  in  weather  so  cold  as  to  demand  fires. 
Thousands  of  gulls  flew  around  our  ship  and  followed  in  her  track, 
but  fell  off  as  we  approached  the  tropics.  The  gull  is  found  only 
in  the  north ;  the  albatross  only  in  the  south.  In  air  or  upon 
water  both  are  exquisitely  graceful;  but  taken  on  board,  they 
become  utterly  awkward ;  walk  with  difficulty ;  the  deck  soon  blis 
ters  their  feet;  and  the  ship's  motion  makes  them  seasick — just 
as  an  old  salt  sometimes  becomes  nauseated  in  a  little  open  boat 
upon  smooth  water.  Sailors  declare  that  both  gull  and  albatross 
sleep  with  their  heads  under  their  wings  while  riding  the  waves 
of  great  storms ;  but,  as  the  newspapers  say,  this  '  needs  confirma 
tion.' 

'  We  were  seldom  out  of  sight  of  the  half  transparent  mountains 
for  more  than  two  or  three  hours.  Our  course  was  so  easterly  that 
watches  required  to  be  set  forward  fifteen  minutes  daily.  As  the 
weather  warmed,  we  saw  schools  of  young  porpoises  tumbling 
through  the  water,  like  rolling  barrels ;  and  frequently  encountered 
the  full-grown  fish,  twelve  or  fifteen  feet  long,  lounging  in  the  sea. 
The  ship's  approach  stimulated  them  into  wonderful  activity, 
making  them  jump  from  the  water,  often  twenty  feet  high,  to 
fall,  dashing  up  columns  of  spray  visible  at  three  or  four  miles. 
They  are  a  reddish-brown,  with  dark  spots  and  immense  fins. 
Leaping  through  the  air  they  assume  a  curious  crescent  form, 
and  impart  great  animation  to  the  quiet  seas.  Sometimes  they 
are  harpooned  and  eaten,  being  a  favorite  dish  with  old  sailors. 
These  declare  that  when  one  is  wounded  and  its  blood  discolors 
the  sea,  all  the  rest  stop  and  remain  with  him,  even  at  the  risk 
of  their  lives. 

Great  whales  exhibited  their  brown  backs,  and  threw  up  coL 
umns  of  water  within  a  few  yards  of  us.  An  ancient  mariner 
assures  me  that  on  the  north  Pacific,  he  once  saw  a  school  of 
whales  so  large  that  the  captain,  who  had  unwittingly  run  his  little 
steamer  among  them,  was  compelled  to  stop  her  for  fear  of  break 
ing  the  wheels.  I  find  many  an  old  sailor  in  whom  a  good  jour 
nalist  was  spoiled  when  he  took  to  the  sea.  He  at  least  makes 
his  stories  interesting,  if  he  is  sometimes  '  indebted  to  his  imagina 
tion  for  his  facts,  and  to  his  memory  for  his  jests.' 

We  passed  the  dull  mountain  of  Cape  Saint  Lucas,  with  a  white 


1865.]        A  LAZY    AND    LUXURIOUS    EXISTENCE. 


531 


sandy  beach  rising  half  to  the  summit ;  and  crossing  the  Gulf  of 
California  in  a  stiff  breeze,  threw  a  parting  glance  at  the  long  penin 
sula  of  Lower  California,  which  ought  to  belong  to  the  United 
States.  Then  we  were  within  the  tropics,  under  the  purple 
heavens  of  the  south,  where  Christmas  day  was  like  New  York  in 
August.  The  ladies  appeared  at  dinner  in  summer  costumes;  and 
our  state-rooms  were  so  hot  as  to  render  the  least  covering  uncom 
fortable.  Life  on  shipboard  in  these  low  latitudes  is  lazy  and  luxu- 


THE  GOLDEN  GATE,  OUTLET  OF  SAX  FRANCISCO  BAY. 

» 

rious.  Serious  thought  is  too  laborious ;  one  requires  no  heavier 
literature  than  novels ;  spends  long  days  in  quiet  whist,  drowsy 
gossip,  or  weak  flirtation ;  finds  dressing  for  dinner,  exhaustion ; 
and  sleeps  twelve  hours  out  of  the  twenty -four. 

At  dawn  on  the  twenty-sixth,,  we  were  in  the  bay  of  Acapulco. 
As  the  entrance  is  narrow  and  dangerous,  the  Mail  Company  main 
tains  a  light  on  the  southern  point  for  one  or  two  nights  before 
each  steamer  is  due.  The  imbecile  Mexican  authorities  h/ive  no 
light-house  whatever- on  the  Pacific  coast,  and  only  a  single  one  on 
the  Atlantic — at  San  J\ian  d'Ulloa. 


532  SIX    HOURS    IN    ACAPULCO.  [1865. 

The  Acapulco  harbor,  large  enough  for  the  navies  of  the  world, 
is  beautifully  land-locked,  chaparral  mountains  rising  on  all  sides, 
from  seven  hundred  to  three  thousand  feet.  Cocoa-palms  with 
smooth  stems  and  long  green  arms  bending  with  fruit,  grow  on  a 
strip  of  sand  at  the  water's  edge.  Lying  in  the  harbor  were  two 
French  men-of-war,  a  Mexican  coaster,  a  United  States  gunboat 
and  naval  store-ship,  and  a  spare  steamer  of  the  Mail  line.  The 
sun  blazed,  the  weak  ripples  pulsated,  and  the  whole  scene  re 
called  Crabbe's  drowsy  lines : 

1  The  ocean  smiling  to  the  fervid  sun, 
The  waves  that  faintly  fall  and  slowly  run, 
The  ships  at  distance  and  the  boats  at  hand. 
And  now  they  walk  upon  the  seaside  sand, 
Counting  their  numbers,  and  what  kind  they  be — 
Ships  softly  sinking  in  the  sleepy  sea.1 

A  mile  from  shore  our  wheels  stopped ;  and  we  were  instantly 
surrounded  by  a  small  navy  of  natives  in  little  boats,  offering  us 
green  oranges  and  ripe  limes.  One  skiff  was  manned  by  a  gigantic 
negress,  black  as  the  ace  of  spades,  with  a  stationary  umbrella  over 
her  bare  arms  and  head,  apparently  to  protect  her  delicate  com 
plexion. 

For  a  silver  half-dollar  a  young  /ebony,  whose  wardrobe  con 
sisted  of  tattered  straw  hat  and  linen  .pantaloons,  admitted  me 
among  a  crowd  of  passengers  whom  he  rowed  ashore.  He 
dragged  the  boat  by  hand  up  the  bare  sand  of  the  beach ;  for 
Mexican  enterprise  is  not  equal  to  wharves.  We  landed  at  a  little 
market  protected  by  green  bay  trees  from  .the  fiery  sun,  and  dis 
playing  on  three  or  four  rickety  tables  whisky,  lemonade,  sole- 
leather  pies,  limes,  oranges,  cocoa-nuts,  and  exquisite  shell  baskets. 
Most  of  our  company  were  injudicious  enough  to  eat  fruit  extrava 
gantly,  some  seasoning  it  with  unlimited  whisky ;  and  were  re 
warded  a  few  hours  later  with  the  fevers  and  diarrheas  they  so 
richly  deserved. 

Three  centuries  ago  Acapulco  and  Panama  were  the  grand 
marts  of  Spanish  commerce.  Here  Alvarado  built  his  vessels  to  sail 
for  Peru,  twenty  years  after  the  conquest  of  Mexico:;  and  annual 
caravans  of  loaded  mules  crossed  the  country  to  Yera  CJruz,  with 
the  products  of  China,  Japan,  and  the  Spice  islands,  Th-e  town  is 


1865]  EARTHQUAKES — A    DROLL    WAR.  533 

wretchedly  built,  of  thatched  one-story  adobe  houses,  shaded  with 
palm  trees.  In  peace  times,  during  nights  unlighted  by  the  moon, 
the  regulations  require  a  lantern  hung  out  from  each  door.  About 
once  in  ten  years,  the  city  is  shaken  to  pieces  by  an  earthquake. 
One  of  these  unwelcome  visitors,  ten  days  before  our  arrival, 
knocked  down  many  dwellings  and  shattered  the  walls  of  the 
ancient  cathedral.  We  looked  into  this  rude  place  of  worship, 
with  stone  floors,  and  crumbling  ceilings  adorned  by  cheap  effigies 
and  a  single  oil  painting  of  the  Virgin  and  the  Savior;  and  glanced 
at  the  quaint  steeple  containing  four  or  five  rough  bells  from  old 
Spain. 

In  its  best  estate  Acapulco  contains  four  thousand  people ;  but 
now  it  was  held  by  seven  thousand  Imperialists,  (adherents  of 
Maximilian)  and  only  four  hundred  of  the  inhabitants  remained. 
The  garrison,  French,  Austrian  and  native  troops,  though  aided 
by  two  French  men-of-war,  was  not  strong  enough  to  dislodge 
Alvarez,  the  Republican,  (President  Jaurez)  commander  of  the 
province,  whose  flag  in  full  view  flew  defiant  from  a  mountain 
top  three  miles  in  the  rear.  With  good  artillery  he  could  have 
shelled  them  out  of  town,  fort,  and  harbor  in  two  hours. 

It  is  always  unsafe  to  predict  how  men  will  fight ;  but,  I  think 
one  regiment  of  Grant's  veterans  would  disperse  six  times  its 
number  of  the  dusky  soldiers  we  saw  lounging  about  the  barracks. 
It  was  a  droll  war.  There  was  very  little  fighting  except  by 
guerrillas,  who  often  robbed  both  sides  with  judicial  impartiality. 
The  Imperialists  would  capture  two  or  three  towns — the  Republi 
cans  running  away  without  resistance — and  then  issue  a  pronun- 
ciamento  claiming  the  entire  province,  and  threatening  to  hang 
everybody  caught  in  arms  against  them ;  and  vice  versa.  In  the 
forty-three  years  since  Mexico  separated  from  Spain,  she  has  had 
forty-one  presidents  and  nearly  as  many  revolutions.  One  resi 
dent  American  argued  to  me  with  great  earnestness,  that  we  ought 
to  solve  the  problem  by  killing  every  native  and  making  room  for 
a  race  with  some  vigor  and  manhood ! 

Here,  as  in  all  Mexico,  the  civilization  is  that  of  three  thousand 
years  ago.  The  country  illustrates  Draper's  sweeping  theory,  that 
no  tropical  climate  ever  produced  a  great  man.  Even  those  de 
scendants  of  the  daring  old  Spaniards,  who  have  kept  pure  their 


534 


NO    VEHICLES    NOK    WAGON    KOADS. 


[1865. 


Castilian  blood,  never  intermarrying  with  the  natives,  preserve 
nothing  but  their  complexions,  and  are  an  imbecile  and  cowardly 
race.  So  in  India  the  experience  of  a  century  has  failed  to  pro 
duce  a  single  person  of  genius  or  high  talents  born  on  the  soil 


A  SCHOOL   OF  PORPOISES. 


and  ability 
have  sprung 
from  the  lower 
classes  of  the 
native 


race. 


from  Europe 
an  parentage ; 
but  there,  sev 
eral  men  of 
great  power 

Acapulco  does  not  contain  a  single  wheeled  vehicle.  No  wagon 
roads  lead  to  the  interior ;  and  even  in  peace  all  supplies  are 
brought  in  upon  the  backs  of  mules  and  donkeys. 

We  found  Mr.  Cole,  the  American  consul,  in  a  cool,  airy  adobe 
dwelling,  with  high  walls,  stone  floor,  and  a  garden  in  the  rear, 
rich  with  oleander  trees  and  other  gorgeous  growths.  He  was 
dressed  all  in  white,  and  reposing  at  full  length  in  a  swinging 
hammock,  prostrate  with  the  prevailing  fever.  May  and  June  are 
the  hottest  months,  December  the  coolest.  The  town  is  warmer  and 
ttnhealthier  than  Panama,  six  hundred  miles  further  south. 

Gladly  we  returned  from  this  scorched  and  devastated  city  to 


1865.]       WONDERFUL    BEAUTY    OF    THE    NIGHTS.  535 

our  pleasant  ship,  which  had  been  detained  six  hours  for  coaling. 
At  length,  with  a  supply  of  food  for  our  hungry  engines,  we 
steamed  out  of  the  sleepy  harbor  into  the  ocean,  so  calm  and 
smooth  that  our  vessel  often  seemed  as  free  from  motion  as  a 
parlor-floor.  Again  and  again,  while  reading  in  the  captain's 
room  on  the  upper-deck,  I  supposed  we  had  stopped ;  but  on  look 
ing  out,  found  we  were  making  eleven  miles  an  hour.  It  is  easily 
increased  to  fifteen ;  but  ten  or  eleven  knots  is  the  most  econom 
ical  speed,  requiring  only  half  as  much  coal  as  fifteen,  and  causing 
far  less  wear  and  tear  of  machinery. 

We  crossed  the  Gulf  of  Tehuantepec,  and  skirting  the  low  level 
shore  of  Guatemala,  rich  with  foliage,  saw  dimly  two  huge  vol 
canic  mountains,  smoking  through  their  veil  of  cloud. 

The  North  Star  dipped  lower  and  lower  until  it  was  only  seven 
degrees  above  the  horizon.  We  were  unable  to  see  its  total  disap 
pearance  because  we  did  not  go  south  of  the  equator,  where  the 
three  Magellan  clouds  take  its  place  in  the  northern  sky  to  guide 
navigators  on  their  pathless  way.  Every  morning  we  gazed  on 
the  brilliant  Southern  Cross,  only  seen  below  twenty-two  north 
latitude.  Unlike  most  constellations,  its  form  is  suggestive  of  its 
name,  four  bright  stars  shaping  a  perfect  cross.  Great  sea-green 
turtles  appeared  on  our  land  side,  and  the  shore  foliage  grew  heavy, 
profuse  and  drooping. 

The  stars  looked  larger  than  in  the  north,  perhaps  from  the 
deep  blue  of  the  sky  and  snowy  whiteness  of  the  cumulose  clouds. 
As  midnight  approached  the  heavens  were  wonderful ;  it  seemed 
almost  a  sin  to  turn  away  from  gazing  upon  them  and  go  to  bed. 
0,  these  delicious  tropical  nights,  with  new  vegetation  on  earth 
and  new  constellations  in  heaven — with  luminous  foamy  track 
in  the  wake  of  our  vessel,  the  soft  vivid  luxuriance  of  the  shore, 
the  perfumed  air  which  makes  physical  existence  an  absolute 
luxury,  and  the  Southern  Cross  blazing  like  a  pillar  of  fire ! 

On  the  thirteenth  day  we  met  the  Colorado,  going  north, 
crowded  with  passengers.  The  convexity  of  the  earth  hides  the 
hull  of  a  vessel  nine  miles  away ;  but  the  beautiful  steamer  seemed 
to  stand  almost  entirely  out  of  the  water,  gliding  by  within  a 
hundred  yards,  swarming  with  men  and  women  shouting  and 
waving  hats  and  handkerchiefs,  while  flags  lowered  and  guns  fired.. 


536  ARRIVAL    AT    PANAMA.  [1866 

To  this  day,  the  boom  of  the  most  Pacific  cannon  makes  me  in 
stinctively  and  nervously  glance  about,  to  see  where  the  shot  will 
strike. 

The  heavy  eyes  of  the  fourteenth  morning  were  wide  open,  when 
we  approached  Panama  from  the  south.  A  long  point  of  land 
compels  vessels  to  go  one  hundred  miles  below  before  entering  the 
great  bay,  surrounded  by  wooded  hills.  On  our  left  appeared 
Toboga  with  two  English  steamers,  which  ply  down  the  coast  of 
South  America,  lying  before  it.  Winding  among  high  moun 
tain  islands,  which  stud  the  bay,  we  came  in  view  of  New  Panama, 
while  the  old  city,  destroyed  by  earthquakes  and  buccaneers,  was. 
pointed  out  six  miles  distant.  Three  men-of-war — two  English 
and  one  American — three  ships  of  the  Mail  line,  and  one  steamer 
of  the  Panama  railway  for  plying  up  the  coast,  were  lying  in  the 
harbor. 

At  ten  o'clock — precisely  the  minute  appointed  at  the  beginning 
of  our  long  voyage  two  weeks  before — the  Sacramento  made  fast 
to  a  buoy ;  for  shallow  water  and  wicked  reefs  forbid  first-class 
steamers  to  approach  within  two  miles  of  the  shore.  Three  of 
us  took  passage  in  the  captain's  dispatch  boat,  protected  by  um 
brellas  from  the  broiling  sun.  We  pulled  two  miles  out  of  our 
course  to  avoid  the  sharp  teeth  of  the  long  reef  standing  above 
water  at  that  stage  of  tide.  Here  the  Pacific  rises  and  falls  thirty 
feet;  at  Aspinwall,  just  across  the  narrow  isthmus,  the  variation 
of  the  Atlantic  is  only  as  many  inches. 

Here  close  my  journeyings  on  the  Pacific,  from  snowy  north  to 
burning  south,  from  Vancouver  Island,  within  a  thousand  miles 
of  the  Arctic  sea,  down  to  a  thousand  miles  within  the  tropics. 
Here  is  the  beautiful  bay  studded  with  islands,  fronting  the  quaint 
old  city  of  a  dead  x civilization.  Here,  three  hundred  and  fifty 
years  ago.  armor-clad  and  sword  in  hand,  Balboa  waded  into  the 
Pacific,  taking  solemn  possession  of  ocean  and  all  bordering  lands 
for  the  king  of  Castile  and  Leon,  his  heirs  and  assigns  forever. 
Truly  a  magnificent  domain,  had  there  been  no  flaw  in  the  title  I 


1866.]      NATIVE     COMPLEXIONS    AND     COSTUMES. 


CHAPTER    XLIV. 

AFTER  our  little  boat  was  pulled  up  the  beach  by  coal-black 
natives,  we  landed  among  tumble-down  buildings.  Climbing 
rickety  stairs  and  passing  under  a  crazy  arch,  we  were  in  the 
narrow  streets  of  Panama,  shaded  by  tall  dwellings  of  adobe  and 
stucco.  The  population  is  six  thousand. 

As  this  was  January  first,  a  church  holiday,  the  thoroughfares 
were  thronged  with  gaily  attired  natives  of  every  hue,  from  jet 
black  to  light  buff.  A  few,  boasting  untainted  Castilian  blood,  are 
as  fair  as  the  people  of  Louisiana  and  Mississippi ;  but  chocolate 
is  the  prevailing  tint  of  the  mob.  Interspersed  were  Frenchmen, 
Germans,  Jews,  English,  and  Americans,  all  in  white  linen  from 
head  to  foot;  and  richly  dressed  Spanish  ladies  with  dazzling- eyes, 
and  clear  rich  complexions  tinctured  with  olive. 

Women  of  the  poorer  classes  (these  low  latitudes  where  boun 
tiful  Nature  supplies  absolute  wants  without  labor,  have  no  work 
ing  classes)  wore  light  linen  lawns  with  immense  frills  about  the 
neck,  and  exhibiting  one  entire  shoulder  and  breast.  The  chariest 
maid  of  Panama  is  prodigal  enough  only  when  she  unmasks  her 
beauty,  not  merely  to  the  moon,  but  to  the  blazing  sun  and  entire 
populace.  The  whiteness  of  her  drapery  is  in  sharp  contrast  with 
her  tawny  skin.  Some  boys  under  twelve  wear  shirts,  but  most 
are  entirely  naked  ;  while  girls  appear  '  in  the  elegant  costume  of 
the  Greek  Slave.'  They  form  striking  couples  for  promenade — • 
young  ladies  arrayed  only  in  straw  hats,  and  juvenile  gentlemen 
in  the  same  attire  with  hats  omitted.  The  youthful  republicans 
of  New  Grenada  are  incredibly  callous  to  the. prejudices  of  civiliza 
tion,  and  flagrantly  rebellious  against  'the  Paris  milliner  who 
dresses  the  world  from  her  imperious  boudoir.'  If  there  be 


538  THE    OLD    CATHEDRAL    OF    PANAMA.  [1866. 

any  Calvinism  in  dress,  they  are  hopeless  examples  of  total 
depravity. 

The  large,  well-stocked  trading  houses  sell  goods  cheaper  than 
New  York ;  for  Panama  is  a  free  port,  a  paradise  for  smokers  who 
love  genuine  Havanas,  and  for  homeward-bound  Yankees,  who 
purchase  for  wives,  daughters,  and  sweethearts,  exquisite  lawns 
of  Irish  linen  which  are  said  to  last  a  hundred  years.  Price, 
thirty  cents  per  yard,  specie.  Panama  hats,  which  endure  water 
and  crushing  like  gutta  percha,  sell  for  from  three  to  fifteen  dollars. 

There  is  a  large  American  hotel,  and  a  cathedral,  seemingly  a 
thousand  years  old.  Many  buildings  are  shattered  by  earthquakes 
and  war.  The  *  old '  city  is  reduced  to  a  pile  of  ruins ;  and  *  New ' 
Panama,  apparently  about  the  oldest  town  in  the  world,  is  tend 
ing  in  the  same  direction.  Crumbling  walls  surrounding  the 
city,  adobe  ruins  within,  even  roofs  of  tall  buildings,  and  church 
towers,  are  profusely  covered  with  growing  vines  and  shrubs. 
Here  Nature  accumulates  while  men  decay ;  here  vegetation 
triumphs  over  masonry. 

The  ancient  cathedral  facing  the  plaza  is  a  quaint,  irregular  pile 
of  stone  and  stucco,  with  half-a-dozen  medieval  Spanish  bells  in 
one  of  its  towers,  and  crumbling  walls  covered  with  mosses  and 
vines.  A  tottering  negro,  in  spectacles  and  gray  hair,  who  looked 
old  enough  to  be  an  Aztec  king,  and  spoke  only  Castilian,  invited 
us  to  enter.  We  passed  in  by  a  side  door,  through  a  cobbler's 
shop.  The  roof  is  supported  by  tall  pillars,  and  the  edifice  will 
hold  four  thousand  people.  There  is  much  silver-ware  about  the 
altar.  Scores  of  marble  grave-stones  flat  upon  the  ground,  recite 
in  mellow  Spanish  or  sonorous  Latin  the  virtues  of  departed  cava 
liers.  Our  cicerone  pointed  out  one  of  the  paintings  as  'Saint 
.  Francisco,'  another  as  'Saint  Sebastian,'  a  third  as  'Mary  and  the 
Child;'  and  then,  with  polite  beseeching,  presented  the  contribu 
tion  box.  Just  now  no  religious  service  was  held,  as  the  repub 
lican  leader  of  the  late  revolution  had  driven  away  all  the  priests. 
Ordinarily,  a  revolution  in  a  Spanish- American  town  attracts  little 
more  attention  than  a  thunder  shower  in  the  United  States. 

At  this  coolest  season  of  the  year  the  blazing  sun  was  fearful. 
A  superannuated  New  York  omnibus,  drawn  by  two  mules,  rattled 
its  bones  through  the  streets,  and  a  newsboy  brought  us  the  Daily 


1866.]       A    BLACK     PROVERBIAL    PHILOSOPHER.  539 

Star,  printed  in  Spanish  and  English,  damp  from  the  press — two 
modern  outcroppings  in  these  ancient  strata.  One  brawny  negro, 
under  a  broad  Panama  hat,  aired  his  English  for  our  benefit: 

*  Shakspeare  says :  '  The  white  man  rules  the  day  and  the  black 
man  rules  the  night;7  but  Gabriel  says:  'The  law  rules  the  poor 
man,  and  the  rich  man  rules  the  law." 

Gabriel,  a  sort  of  local  Farquhar  Tupper,  seemed  to  be  blowing 
his  horn,  after  taking  several  horns  too  many ;  but  drew  one  of 
the  large  and  admiring  audiences  which  usually  attend  that  pro 
found  school  of  philosophy. 

We  obtained  a  glimpse  of  the  great  convent  on  the  sea-shore, 
now  closed  by  the  revolution  ;  and  also  of  the  huge  dilapidated 
fort,  half  concealed  under  luxuriant  vines  and  shrubs  bearing 
gorgeous  flowers.  Then  seeing  a  little  steamer  filled  with  our 
passengers,  like  a  hive  black  with  bees,  moving  to  the  shore,  we 
hastened  down  the  hot,  narrow,  winding  streets  to  the  railway 
station  at  the  water's  edge ;  and  elbowed  through  the  dense,  pant 
ing  crowd  into  the  cars,  which  have  cane  seats,  and  wooden  blinds 
instead  of  glass  windows.  The  locomotive  shrieked,  and  we 
moved  out  of  the  city,  following  endless  curves,  slowly  winding 
around  foot-hills  and  through  jungles,  toward  the  summit  of  that 
narrow  neck  of  land  which  divides  two  unbounded  seas. 

The  Panama  railway,  begun  in  1848,  was  completed  in  seven 
years,  costing  one  hundred  and  sixty  thousand  dollars  per  mile. 
Again  and  again  its  work  was  suspended ;  for  the  fever-breeding 
air  poisoned  all  who  breathed  it.  Natives,  West  Indians,  Irish, 
French,  Germans,  Austrians,  Coolies,  and  Chinese  were  suc 
cessively  employed  as  laborers,  and  to  all  it  proved  fatal.  The 
forty-eight  miles,  ridged  with  graves,  are  said  to  have  cost  a 
man's  life  for  every  sleeper.  Jamaica  negroes  and  whites  from 
our  northern  States  bore  the  climate  best,  and  finished  the  work. 
Think  of  men  breathing  fever,  penetrating  cane-brakes,  wading 
swamps,  fighting  noxious  insects,  dodging  boa-constrictors,  cou 
gars  and  crocodiles,  and  constantly  braving  death,  for  one  or  two 
dollars  per  day ! 

The  road  pays  larger  dividends  than  any  other  in  the  world. 
It  charges  twenty-five  dollars  in  specie  for  a  ride  of  forty-eight 
miles,  and  corresponding  prices  for  freight.  Seven-eighths  of  its 


640       LIGNUMVITAE    SLEEPEKS — CEMENT    POLES.     [1866. 

passenger  and  two-fifths  of  its  other  receipts  are  from  the  Califor 
nia  trade.  This  freight  includes  treasure;  estimating  it  by  the 
ton  much  the  larger  portion  goes  southward.  The  European  and 
United  States  trade  with  the  west  coast  of  South  America  is  very 


ON   THE   ISTHMUS,    BETWEEN    PANAMA   AND    ASPINWALL. 

heavy.  British  mail  steamers  ply  from  Valparaiso  to  Panama: 
and  on  the  east  side  another  line  connects  Aspinwall  with  Liver 
pool. 

The  sleepers  are  of  lignumvitse,  the  only  timber  which  endures 
the  ravages  of  climate  and  insects.     The  accompanying  telegraph- 


1866.]       RICHEST    VEGETATION    IN    THE    WORLD.  541 

poles  are  of  cement,  as  no  timber  exposed  to  the  air  would  last 
more  than  one  year.  Four  miles  apart  are  the  local  superintend 
ents'  houses,  of  uniform  architecture ;  two  stories,  white,  with  green 
blinds,  high  ceilings,  broad  halls,  deep  balconies  and  piazza  around 
the  entire  building,  and  separate  kitchens  in  the  rear.  These 
frame  dwellings,  all  made  in  New  York,  and  sent  out  ready  to  be 
put  together,  look  cool  and  inviting.  Each  superintendent  is 
responsible  for  his  four  miles  of  road,  which  requires  constant 
labor  to  keep  it  from  being  washed  away  by  rains,  or  crumbled 
or  covered  by  the  irrepressible  vegetation. 

Beside  the  track  are  the  dwellings  of  native  workmen  and  vil 
lagers — little,  steep-roofed  cabins,  thatched  with  tiles,  grass  or 
cane,  with  walls  of  sticks  and  plaster.  They  look  dry  and  cool; 
but  during  the  rainy  season  they  must  admit  water  like  sieves,  and 
their  occupants  become  aquatic.  The  women  were  celebrating 
the  day  in  clean  frocks  and  bits  of  finery.  All  wear  Pan 
ama  hats  like  the  men.  Prolific  Nature  has  blessed  them  with  in 
numerable  clusky  babies.  I  have  seen  nothing  like  it  save  in  Salt 
Lake  streets  and  on  Missouri  prairies. 

Here  is  the  richest,  densest  vegetation  in  the  world — an  impene 
trable  tangle  of  mangoes,  plantains,  palms,  oranges,  bananas,  limes, 
India  rubber  trees,  and  thousands  of  shrubs  and  parasites  new  to 
northern  eyes.  Here  is  primeval  architecture — endless  cloisters, 
colonnades,  and  bowers.  Little  vistas  of  greensward,  fragments  of 
water,  hills  and  basaltic  cliffs,  are  exceptional.  As  a  whole,  the 
isthmus  is  a  vast  jungle  of  trees,  cane-brakes,  and  parasites,  gay 
with  gorgeous  flowers  and  birds  of  brilliant  plumage,  rich  with 
the  cocoa-nut,  and  sometimes  dazzling  with  the  brightness  of  the 
orange. 

Monkeys  and  parrots  chatter  on  the  branches ;  wild  beasts  hide 
in  the  dingles;  insects  swarm  in  the  swamps;  huge  reptiles  drag 
their  slow  lengths  along  the  oozy  soil,  darkened  by  thick  foliage 
which  shuts  out  the  light  of  the  rich  tropical  heavens.  From 
branches  sixty  feet  high,  vines  hang  down  like  ropes,  mingling 
on  the  earth  in  mazes  and  labyrinths,  and  climbing  and  winding 
up  the  huge  trunks.  The  old  fact  of  nature  and  figure  of  rhetoric 
— the  sustaining  oak  and  clinging  vine — man's  strength  and 
woman's  tenderness — is  reversed.  The  tree  indeed  supports  the 

35 


542  ALONG    THE    PANAMA    RAILWAY.  [1866. 

vine;  but  is  smothered  in  the  embrace  of  death.  The  trunks  of 
some  forest  kings  resemble  huge  pipes  of  lead,  and  even  the  stems 
of  willows  are  in  sections,  with  joints,  like  corn-stalks  and  sugar 
cane. 

Here  are  rarest  combinations  of  color  and  form— wild  palms 
with  leaves  eighteen  inches  long  yet  only  a  finger's  width ;  im 
mense  groves  of  cultivated  palms  heavy  with  fruit;  countless 
bananas  upon  which  the  natives  subsist ;  pulpy  stalks,  with  leaves, 
the  thickness  and  texture  of  lily -pads,  but  sword-shaped,  and  ten 
or  twelve  feet  in  hight;  birds  of  white,  black  and  yellow;  flowers 
of  white,  orange,  crimson  and  scarlet,  blazing  out  from  the  con 
volutions  and  tangles  of  greenness.  All  is  profusion,  luxury, 
gorgeousness.-  Every  prospect  pleases,  and  only  man  is  vile. 

Eleven  miles  from  Panama  we  crossed  the  summit,  through  a 
natural  gap  three  hundred  feet  above  the  ocean.  From  these 
mountains  one  can  see  both  Atlantic  and  Pacific  at  once.  For 
several  miles  we  followed  down  the  Chagres  river,  against  whose 
muddy  current  natives  used  to  pole  up  early  California  emigrants 
in  canoes. 

Aspinwall  has  an  excellent  harbor,  enabling  first-class  steamers 
to  come  to  the  wharf  without  ferriage.  On  the  chief  street  is  a 
long  row  of  wooden  buildings,  with  projecting  roofs  or  sheds,  used 
as  trading  houses  and  eating  and  drinking  saloons.  The  motley 
population  of  less  than  one  thousand  is  composed  of  natives,  Ja 
maica  negroes,  and  Americans.  Aspinwall  owes  its  birth  to  the 
Panama  railroad,  and  was  surely  born  too  soon — sent  to  this 
breathing  world  scarce  half  made  up.  Surrounded  and  intersect 
ed  by  stagnant  pools — water  unfit  for  drinking  or  cooking  without 
distillation ;  air  close  and  malarious ;  and  population  hybrid — it  is 
the  dreariest,  wretchedest,  most  repulsive  city  of  fact  or  fiction, 
not  excepting  Cairo  Illinois,  in  the  days  of  Martin  Chuzzlewit. 

The  many-colored  population  was  observing  the  holiday  by 
clean  clothing  and  a  little  more  loafing  than  usual.  The  post- 
office  was  closed,  but  entering  by  a  back  door  I  found  an  amiable 
negro  in  charge,  who  spoke  no  English,  but  permitted  me  to  ran 
sack  its  dusty  and  disordered  shelves  for  my  file  of  waiting  news 
papers  from  home. 

An  hour  after  us  arrived  a  second  train,  bringing  only  the 


1866.] 


TWELVE    HOURS    IN    ASPINWALL. 


543 


specie.  Once  admitted  through  the  great  gate  and  over  the  long 
wharf  to  the  steamer  New  York,  we  could  not  leave  the  boat 
while  the  treasure  was  being  transferred.  Muscular,  half-naked 
negroes  received  from  freight  cars  the  bare  bricks  of  silver,  bars 
of  gold  sewn  in  canvas,  and  boxes  of  coin,  each  taking  a  ticket 
describing  his  parcel,  to  deliver  with  it  on  the  ship.  Bending  and 
perspiring  under  these  precious  burdens,  the  tawny  workmen 
marched  in  constant  procession  between  rows  of  men,  illuminating 
wharf  gangway  and  deck  with  lanterns.  This  novel  spectacle 
lasted  for  two  hours,  convincing  me  that  a  million  of  dollars  in 


TRANSFERRING   THE   SPECIE   AT   ASPINWALL. 

bullion  is  a  good  deal  of  money,  and  would  be  awkward  to  carry 
around.  Afterward,  while  the  heavy  freight  was  coming  on 
board,  and  the  negroes  pleasantly  diverting  themselves  in  smash 
ing  our  trunks,  we  were  permitted  to  go  ashore  to  get  limes  for 
lemonades  and  claret  punches,  to  soften  the  asperities  of  the  trip. 

At  four  the  next  morning  the  New  York  left  Aspinwall  wharf 
for  her  two-thousand-mile  voyage,  her  passengers  rested  and 
invigorated  by  the  isthmus  trip,  which  breaks  the  monotony  of  the 


544  DISCOMFOKTS    ON    THE    'KOLLING    DEEP.'       [1866. 

long  sea-journey.  She  is  a  beautiful  steamer,  stanch,  elegant  and 
commodious,  though  smaller  than  those  of  the  west  side,  which  a 
single  winter  voyage  on  the  Atlantic  would  strip  to  the  hull. 
Her  state-rooms  are  pleasant,  each  containing  three  berths  and  a 
sofa,  with  abundant  drawers  and  shelves.  A  friend  and  myself 
occupied  one.  Another  friend,  his  wife,  five  children  and  nurse, 
had  three  more,  side  by  side ;  and  in  day-time  we  threw  open  the 
doors,  converting  the  four  rooms  into  a  pleasant  saloon. 

The  moment  our  wheels  started,  we  felt  the  sharp  contrast  to 
the  smooth  Pacific,  and  the  shining  capacity  of  our  steamer  for 
rolling  and  pitching.  It  was  difficult  to  decide  which  was  hardest, 
to  keep  in  bed  through  the  night,  dress  in  the  morning,  or  eat 
during  the  day.  The  tables  were  a  dreary  expanse  of  empty 
seats,  and  our  pretext  of  breakfasting  very  shallow  and  ridiculous. 
Huge  waves  drenched  the  upper  deck  with  spray.  It  is  wonder 
ful  how  steamers  ride  them,  with  wheels  now  entirely  submerged, 
and  a  moment  after,  lifted  far  out  of  the  water. 

For  two  days  we  staggered  about  or  adhered  to  our  sofas,  bat 
tling  the  two  difficulties  of  Artemus  Ward — to  keep  inside  of  our 
state-rooms  and  outside  of  our  dinners.  The  third  was  a  little 
smoother;  and  wretched  mortals  began  to  creep  out  of  their  hiding- 
places,  and  appear  at  table.  The  women  uniformly  declared  that 
they  had  not  been  seasick,  but  mereiy  suffering  from  headache. 
Why  is  everybody  ashamed  of  seasickness  and  innocent  of  its  ex 
istence  ?  Some  thirty  of  our  passengers  were  prostrated  with  Pan 
ama  fever,  often  induced  by  the  tropical  voyage  and  crossing  the 
isthmus.  It  is  ordinarily  prevented  by  taking  two  or  three  grains 
of  quinine  daily  in  the  low  latitudes. 

Among  the  entertaining  persons  on  board  was  a  lady  born  near 
the  Black  sea,  educated  in  Paris,  conversant  with  most  modern 
languages,  and  speaking  English  with  just  difficulty  enough  to 
make  her  chat  piquant.  With  her  husband,  long  in  our  public 
service,  she  has  seen  much  of  every  quarter  of  the  globe.  Her 
comments  upon  American  society  were  pungent. 

1  The  Bostonians/  she  said  *  are  very  charming,  very  hospitable 
very  cultivated ;  but  they  are  perfectly  convicted  of  their  immense 
superiority  to  everybody  else.' 

She  gave  an  amusing  account  of  her  three  days'  experience  on 


1866.] 


EXPERIENCES    OF    TWO    PASSENGERS. 


545 


this  rolling  vessel.  Her  beautiful  hair,  wonderfully  fine  and  soft, 
is  so  long  that  when  she  stands  upright,  it  sweeps  the  floor.  Each 
morning  she  arranged  it  laboriously;  but  just  as  it  was  nearly  fin 
ished  a  heavy  lurch  would  fling  her  across  the  state-room,  and 
down  it  came !  After  attempting  again  and  again,  she  at  last  gave 
up  in  despair,  sat  down  upon  a  trunk  to  enjoy  'a  good  cry,'  and 
then  returned  to  bed  for  the  rest  of  the  day. 

However  ill  one  feels,  it  is  far  better  to  partake  of  every  meal, 
and,  like  Dr.  Johnson,  preserve  the  proud  consciousness  of  *  a  man 


'ONLY  A  HEADACHE.' 

who  has  endeavored  well.'  Iced  champagne  is  the  best  remedy 
for  this  intense  nausea.  The  sea  is  a  relentless  leveler,  without 
the  slightest  regard  for  personal  prejudices.  One  of  our  company, 
Congressional  delegate  from  Arizona,  was  a  member  of  the  Maine 
legislature  passing  the  original  simon-pure,  prohibitory  law,  of 
which  he  was  an  enthusiastic  advocate.  I  now  saw  him  upon  a 
sofa  for  three  days,  pale  as  death,  living  upon  champagne 
' straight' — and  he  seemed  to  like  it! 


546  NIGHT    IN    A    HEAVY    GALE.  [1866. 

The  third  evening,  on  our  left,  we  saw  the  dim  mountains  of 
Jamaica ;  and  a  few  hours  later,  on  our  right,  the  little  monitor- 
shaped  island  of  Nevassa.  The  weather  cooled,  and  the  ship  con 
tinued  to  roll,  when  we  left  behind  the  last  of  the  Bahamas. 

On  the  seventh  day  from  Aspinwall,  in  the  Carribean  sea,  the 
wind  increased  to  a  gale.  Many  declare  that  a  storm  does  not 
equal  one's  imagination ;  that  waves  never  run  mountain-high. 
Actually  I  suppose  they  do  not.  Scientific  measurements  are 
said  to  prove  that  they  seldom  reach  one  hundred  feet;  yet  stand 
ing  on  the  hurricane  deck,  clutching  a  rope  or  iron  rod  for  safety, 
we  looked  up  at  huge  billows  which  gave  the  exact  effect  of  tall 
mountains,  far  exceeding  all  my  fancy  had  painted  them.  In 
beautiful,  ever-changing  colors  they  carne  rolling  down  upon  us 
with  great  gulfs  between,  deep  enough  to  hide  a  village  church, 
steeple  and  all.  Standing  at  the  stern,  we  saw  the  bows  of  our 
gallant  ship  sometimes  point  up  toward  the  sky,  making  the  deck 
like  a  steep  roof;  and  a  moment  after,  dive  down  toward  the  bot 
tom  of  the  sea.  It  is  a  perpetual  wonder  to  landsmen  that  a  ship 
can  ride  such  billows ;  but  as  long  as  they  strike  her  bows  or 
stern  at  a  right-angle  she  breasts  them  easily,  though  a  single 
broad-wise  wave  would  be  likely  to  swamp  her.  The  New  York 
behaved  admirably  under  Captain  Horner,  an  old  and  thorough 
seaman;  but  through  that  long  rough  night,  it  was  difficult  to 
keep  in  one's  berth.  Indeed,  a  new  Jack  and  Gill  in  the  bridal 
chamber  fell  down  the  steep  hill  of  the  careening  floor,  while  all 
the  mattresses  came  tumbling  after. 

At  intervals  in  the  darkness  would  come  a  tremendous  lurch, 
straining  the  ship  in  every  joint,  and  followed  by  crashing  of  glass 
and  crockery.  I  had  always  longed  to  see  a  storm  on  shipboard  ; 
and  here  it  was,  to  my  heart's  content.  The  anticipation  was  a 
good  deal  more  agreeable  than  the  reality.  It  was  a  memorable 
night — the  only  one  in  which  I  remember  to  have  been  kept 
awake  solely  from  fear.  By  daylight  it  is  appalling  enough  to 
watch  vast  waves  upon  which  the  ship  seems  the  merest  feather — 
to  see  every  loose  article  flung  across  the  cabin,  and  dishes  from 
the  tables  scattered  about  like  wheat  from  a  sower's  hand  ;  but  it 
is  far  more  impressive  for  one  to  lie  through  the  slow  hours,  won 
dering  whether  he  will  see  the  cheerful  world  again ;  remember- 


1866.]       END   OP  EIGHT  MONTHS'  WANDERINGS.  647 

ing  that  a  slight  break  of  machinery  would  leave  him  at  the  mercy 
of  the  elements ;  that  only  a  plank  is  between  him  and  death. 

The  next  morning  we  were  laboring  up  the  Gulf  Stream,  off 
Cape  Lookout.  We  were  able  to  make  only  three  or  four  knots 
per  hour — barely  enough  motion  for  steerage.  Our  forward  bulk 
heads  had  been  shaved  off  as  with  a  razor ;  sheets  of  copper 
stripped  from  the  hull ;  thirty  feet  of  the  upper  deck  broken  off 
and  floated  away ;  four  larboard  closets  carried  overboard ;  and 
three-inch  planks,  thickly  studded  with  spikes,  torn  up  like  paper. 
Old  salts  declared  the  weather  as  bad  as  ships  ever  live  through  ; 
and  after  reaching  port  we  learned  that  many  vessels  went  down 
in  the  gale.  At  the  thin  breakfast  tables,  where  dishes  danced 
a  Virginia  reel,  the  passengers  looked  worn  and  haggard ;  but 
jested  about  the  prospect  with  true  national  nonchalance.  After 
lasting  two  days  the  gale  abated. 

Go  outside  in  a  storm,  insure  safety  by  clinging  or  being 
lashed  to  a  safe  object,  and  watch  the  wonderful  seas.  It  makes 
one  quite  forget  his  terror  to  look  out  upon  vast  mountains  of 
waves  instantaneously  changing  in  form,  and  in  richness  and  variety 
of  colors  which  no  brush  nor  canvas  can  reproduce. 

On  the  tenth  evening  from  Aspinwall  we  saw  Barnegat  light 
off  the  New  Jersey  coast.  The  next  morning  our  ship  plowed 
the  ice  of  New  York  harbor,  among  a  hundred  familiar  scenes ; 
and  threw  out  her  cable  at  the  foot  of  Canal  street,  twenty-two 
days  from  San  Francisco. 

Ended  were  my  eight  months'  wanderings,  from  the  Missouri 
to  the  Pacific,  and  back  to  the  Atlantic.  I  wish  every  American, 
before  going  abroad,  might  make  the  trans-continental  journey. 
"Without  it  he  can  have  no  creditable  knowledge  or  intelligent 
appreciation  of  his  own  country.  New  York,  New  England, 
Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  the  Atlantic  slope — these  are  not  wholly  nor 
chiefly  the  United  States.  Let  him  view  the  great  river,  with 
its  magnificent  valley ;  the  prairies  which  look  up  at  the  moun 
tains  ;  the  mountains  which  look  out  on  the  sunset  sea.  They 
will  give  him  home  standards  of  comparison  for  every  foreign 
scene ;  glimpses  of  our  strongest  national  traits,  both  virtues  and 
faults ;  suggestions  of  the  vastness  of  our  domain,  our  pageants  of 
beauty  and  sublimity,  our  abounding  resources  and  our  great  destiny. 


548  A    BIDE    THROUGH    ILLINOIS.  [1866, 


CHAPTER    XLV. 

IK  September,  1866,  a  new  line  of  sleeping-cars  on  all  the 
routes  radiating  from  Chicago,  was  paying  forty  thousand  dollars 
per  month  to  its  chief  owner — an  old  quartz  miner  from  the 
Eocky  Mountains.  Thus  he  earned  a  frugal  livelihood  until  Col 
orado  mining  should  become  an  established  success. 

The  cars  each  cost  from  twenty-eight  thousand  to  forty  thou 
sand  dollars,  and  are  incomparably  the  finest  in  the  world.  A 
new  improvement  combines  a  sleeping,  eating  and  saloon  carriage. 
In  its  little  apartments  the  passenger,  by  touching  a  bell-tassel,  sum 
mons  a  waiter  to  serve  him  with  coffee,  oysters,  chicken,  or  any 
thing  else  to  be  had  at  an  ordinary  restaurant. 

I  left  Chicago  upon  a  palatial  sleeping-car,  richly  furnished,  and 
running  like  a  pair  of  skates  upon  even  ice.  The  ample  beds 
are  as  inviting  as  those  of  our  best  hotels.  The  masculine  pas 
senger  undresses  as  at  home,  and  sleeps  soundly,  unless  on  very 
bad  terms  with  his  conscience  or  his  nerves. 

Morning  found  us  on  a  vast  ocean  of  prairie,  with  great  islands 
of  corn  rising  from  its  depths,  and  white  fleets  of  villages,  neat 
clippers  of  country  churches,  and  snowy  schooners  of  farm-houses 
resting  upon  its  bosom.  The  Illini  Indians  greeted  old  Father 
Marquette  : 

1  How  beautiful  is  the  sun,  0  Frenchman,  when  thou  comest 
among  us !' 

The  scene  is  fair  to-day  ;  and  no  man  can  measure  the  richness 
of  the  Prairie  State.  The  southern  half  is  almost  as  level  as  a 
floor.  I  have  personal  prejudices  in  favor  of  regions  where  water 
will  run  one  way  or  the  other ;  but  these  endless  sweeps,  mel 
lowed  by  laughing  sunflower,  rippling  grass  and  tasseled  corn,  are 
the  granary  and  garden  of  the  world. 


1866.]      ATCHISON;  SUMNER;  LEAVENWORTH.          549 

At  Quincy  a  wheezy  engine  ferried  us  over  the  Mississippi;* 
and  then  the  locomotive  bore  us  across  Missouri.  Again,  horizon- 
bounding  prairies ;  thousands  of  cattle,  white,  black  and  spotted, 
grazing  unfenced  fields ;  forests  more  frequent  and  dense  ;  streams 
more  forbidding  and  muddy ;  log  houses  increasing  ;  great  farms 
inclosed  wholly  by  heavy  rails  of  black-walnut ;  white  villages 
fewer  and  further  between  ;  at  the  bridges,  empty  log  forts,  with 
grass  growing  in  their  deserted  camps,  and  flowers  springing  from 
their  precious  graves. 

The  railway  left  us  at  Atchison  Kansas.  In  lieu  of  the  Border 
Euffian  shanties  of  1857,  is  now  a  well-built  city  of  brick  and 
stone,  with  heavy  trade,  two  daily  newspapers,  and  cars  running 
sixty  miles  westward  on  a  branch  of  the  Union  Pacific  railroad. 

Thence  I  took  a  little  steamer  down  the  Missouri.  In  1858, 
Sumner,  two  miles  below,  had  five  hundred  people.  Now  it  has 
about  twenty-five.  All  the  buildings  save  five  or  six  have  been 
torn  down  and  taken  away.  Young  oaks  and  cotton  woods  choke 
its  deserted  streets — to  me  peculiarly  desolate,  as  it  was  my  home 
for  two  years.  Of  its  then  residents,  many  have  gone  to  the  last, 
untroubled  sleep ;  and  the  living  are  scattered  all  over  the 
world. 

We  landed  at  Leaven  worth,  which  looks  more  like  a  great 
city  than  any  other  point  between  St.  Louis  and  San  Francisco. 
It  boasts  three  railway  connections;  three  daily  newspapers,  print 
ed  in  English,  and  two  in  German.  It  is  lighted  with  gas;  well 
built  of  brick ;  and  has  the  air  of  a  metropolis.  As  usual  in  this 
longitude,  the  citizens  do  not  underrate  its  importance.  There  is 
enough  of  magnificent  expectation  to  give  point  to  the  satire  of  a 
waggish  resident,  who  insists  that  St.  Louis  and  Chicago  will  be 
wood  and  water  stations  on  the  railways  leading  east ;  bui  ad 
mits  that  New  York  may  exceed  Leaven  worth  for  several  years 
to  come ! 

St.  Joseph,  Leaven  worth  and  Kansas  City  each  started  fair  in 
the  race.  St.  Joseph  had  age  and  a  rich,  well-settled  surrounding 
country;  Leavenworth,  a  military  post  and  a  fair  prairie  site; 
Kansas  City,  the  lucrative  New  Mexican  trade  and  a  firm  rock 

*  Indian :  Great  and  long  river. 


550  RAILWAY    RIDE    TO    TOPEKA.  [1866. 

landing  on  the  river  in  front.  But  the  two  Missouri  towns  were 
Border  Euffian ;  and  with  the  great  war,  the  whirligig  of  time 
brought  in  his  revenges.  Their  business  went  to  Leavenworth, 
while  Kansas  troops  swept  Missouri  with  fire  and  sword.  Now 
St.  Joseph  has  eighteen  thousand  people ;  Leavenworth  twenty-two 
thousand ;  Kansas  City  eleven  thousand.  Near  by  are  Lawrence 
with  eight  thousand,  Atchison,  with  six  thousand,  and  Wyandotte 
with  three  thousand — all  less  than  seventy  miles  apart,  in  a  young, 
thinly-settled  region.  How  they  live  is  a  mystery ;  yet  each  is 


DELAWARE    STREET,    LEAVENWORTH,    1867. 

busy,  with  great  blocks  going  up,  and  its  chief  street  a  Broadway 
in  miniature. 

From  Leavenworth  I  took  railway  to  Topeka,  fifty-eight  miles. 
The  road  climbs  ridges  like  saw-teeth ;  jolts  one  like  corduroys, 
and  rocks  him  like  a  rough  cradle.  It  leads  through  the  old  Del 
aware  reservation,  not  long  open  to  settlement ;  but  great  corn 
fields  and  herds  of  cattle  already  appear.  The  remaining  mem 
bers  of  this  and  other  Kansas  tribes  will  soon  be  removed  to  the 
Indian  Territory,  or  some  other  remote  region.  The  whites  want 
their  lands — and  have  the  power.  Thirty-three  miles  out  we 


1866.]  A    POLITICAL    CONVENTION    AGAIN.  551 

reach  the  bank  of  the  Kaw  river,  opposite  Lawrence.  Here 
North  Lawrence  has  suddenly  sprung  up,  with  a  population  of 
fifteen  hundred,  and  a  weekly  newspaper.  Here  we  find  the 
Kansas  fork  of  the  Union  Pacific  railway,  pushing  due  west  to 
ward  Denver.  We  follow  it  twenty-five  miles  up  the  Kansas 
valley,  then  debark  and  cross  the  river. 

Topeka  now  contains  twenty-five  hundred  inhabitants.  At 
the  chief  street-crossing  a  tall  liberty-pole  is  encircled  by  a  log 
stockade,  whose  musket  loop-holes  stare  down  the  avenues  in  four 
directions.  It  was  built  after  Quantrell's  wholesale  massacre  at 
Lawrence.  Long  may  the  flag  stream  above,  with  the  rifles  un- 
needed  below!  Brick  and  stone  blocks  are  springing  up  like 
rows  of  young  corn.  Thus  far  the  vertebrae  are  ill-defined  ;  but 
the  broad  spinal  street,  whose  jet-black  loam  is  hard-baked  in 
drowth  and  mushy  in  freshet,  points  northward,  down  a  smooth 
prairie  slope ;  then  across  a  rich  bottom,  rank  with  vegetation,  to 
the  sluggish  Kansas.  The  further  bank  is  traversed  by  the  great 
railroad,  which  brings  mails  and  passengers  from  New  York  in 
three  days.  A  State-house  of  dark  rnagnesian  limestone  is  begun  ; 
Lincoln  college,  under  Presbyterian  auspices,  is  in  full  operation  J 
and  the  town  has  a  most  promising  future. 

Again  I  found  a  convention  in  session,  as  during  my  first  visit. 
That  was  a  '  Free  State'  assemblage,  held  in  the  open  air ;  this,  a 
( Republican '  gathering,  within  a  hall,  though  upon  the  same  spot. 
That  was  very  bitter  against  James  Buchanan;  this  equally  so 
against  Andrew  Johnson.  That  was  directed  chiefly  by  Lane; 
this,  held  soon  after  his  death,  seemed  a  little  bewildered  at  the 
absence  of  his  aggressive,  controlling  will.  I  saw  that  the  war 
had  left  great  gaps  among  the  Old  Gruard.  Some  present  limped 
on  crutches ;  some  had  empty  sleeves  and  scarred  faces ;  but  there 
were  scores  of  familiar  countenances,  including  several  attendants, 
and  candidates  too,  at  every  convention  since  1856  !  The  Kan 
sas  politician  is  long-lived  as  the  cedar  of  Lebanon  and  periodic 
as  fever  and  ague. 

This  convention,  after  all  these  years  of  war,  defeated  a  resolu 
tion  to  strike  *  white '  out  of  the  State  constitution,  and  substi 
tuted  a  recommendation  submitting  the  suffrage  question  to  a 
popular  vote.  Even  Kansas,  earliest  to  give  the  negro  the  mus- 


552  CURIOUS    RETRIBUTIVE    JUSTICE.  [1866. 

ket,  was  reluctant  to  give  him  the  ballot.  Though  placing  within 
his  grasp  the  first  prizes  of  the  university,  she  hesitated  to  open 
to  his  competition  the  highest  honors  of  the  State. 

In  Topeka  I  encountered  Asa  Hairgrove,  a  survivor  of  the 
Marais  des  Cygnes  massacre  of  1858,  his  face  still  scarred,  a  bullet 
still  imbedded  in  his  skull,  his  left  hand  still  warped  by  the  old 
charge  of  buckshot.  Upon  the  admission  of  Kansas,  he  was 
elected  State  auditor.  His  father,  William  Hairgrove,  had  not 
yet  lived  to  witness  the  death  of  all  the  criminals  (see  page  123.) 
But  his  neighbors  chose  him  sheriff  of  Linn  county ;  and  six 
years  after  the  butchery,  with  a  military  posse,  he  captured  one 
of  the  murderers  in  Missouri ;  brought  him  back  to  Kansas ;  wit 
nessed  his  trial  and  conviction  by  a  civil  court;  and  then  hung 
him  in  the  regular  course  of  official  duty  !  It  was  a  curious  ex 
ample  of  retributive  justice.  During  the  war,  several  others  of 
Hamilton's  band  fell  fighting  for  the  rebels. 

Abandoning  the  locomotive  for  a  horse  and  buggy,  I  left  the 
capital  with  Thaddeus  H.  Walker.  My  own  estates  being  chiefly 
in  Spain,  I  find  the  sorrow  of  getting  but  small  dividends  tern. 
pered  by  the  joy  of  paying  no  taxes.  Not  so  with  my  friend 
Walker.  Possessing  one  hundred  and  seven  thousand  acres  in 
Kansas  alone,  he  is  probably  the  largest  landholder  in  the  Union, 
Six  miles  north  of  Topeka,  we  viewed  the  farm  of  a  thousand 
acres  where  in  1858,  before  he  was  known  to  fame,  or  ever  marched 
down  to  the  sea,  Sherman  tilled  the  soil.  A  group  of  neigh 
bors,  discussing  politics  among  their  generous  grain  stacks,  told  us 
that  unimproved  lands  were  held  at  five  to  fifteen  dollars  per  acre ; 
and  in  one  rare  case  a  farm  had  sold  for  fifty  dollars  per  acre. 

We  met  a  countless  army  of  grasshoppers  darkening  the  air 
like  great  flakes  of  snow.  Our  horse's  feet  crushed  them  by  hun 
dreds  ;  everywhere  they  flew  up  so  thick  that  he  was  reluctant  to 
go  on.  They  are  about  an  inch  and-a-quarter  long,  and  look  like 
our  most  familiar  eastern  grasshopper,  but  with  more  of  the  clip 
per  build,  and  carrying  more  sail.  They  fly  as  high  as  one  can 
fling  a  stone,  and  they  can  stay  aloft  like  wild  geese.  What 
genius  will  achieve  immortality  by  learning  from  them  to  con 
struct  a  flying  machine,  as  Sir  Samuel  Brown  invented  the  sus 
pension  bridge  from  a  spider-web  across  his  path? 


1866.] 


OMNIVEROUS  GRASSHOPPERS. 


553 


In  a  column  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  wide  and  about  one 
hundred  deep,  they  mysteriously  appeared  near  Fort  Kearney, 
and  were  sweeping  southwest.  Some  farmers  burn  the  prairies 
before  them.  This 
confounds  the  trou 
blesome  visitors ;  like 
human  armies,  find 
ing  their  supplies  cut 
off,  they  make  forced 
marches.  They  strip 
to  skeletons  shining 
cotton  wood  leaves. 
They  devour  every 
shred  of  tomatoes  and 
onions.  They  gorge 
themselves  upon  cab 
bages,  reckless  of  the 
great  truth  that  cab 
bages  are  indigestible. 
They  roll  the  spring 
ing  wheat  as  a  sweet 
morsel  under  their  tongues.  They  feast  upon  tender  leaves  and 
milky  kernels  of  softest  green  corn.  Witnesses  aver  that  in 
some  places  they  eat  ripe  corn,  cob  and  all !  I  did  not  hear  of 
their  consuming  any  fire-proof  safes;  and  I  am  confident  they 
never  would  have  attacked  the  prisoners'  rations  at  Castle  Thun 
der  or  Salisbury.  What  produces  them  ?  Whence  come  they, 
and  whither  go  ? 

We  found  the  wild  grasses  six  feet  high,  spangled  with  sun 
flower,  golden-rod,  and  other  blossoms  of  white  and  blue  and 
royal  purple.  Plants  brought  here  from  eastern  States  abruptly 
change  in  form,  shape  of  leaves  and  number  of  petals.  Probably 
this  greater  elevation  above  the  sea — at  some  points  fourteen  hun 
dred  feet — is  the  chief  cause. 

We  spent  the  first  night  at  Holton,  Jackson  county.  The  Bor- 
,der  Kuffians  of  the  first  bogus  legislature  named  the  counties. 
Their  Free  State  successors  changed  Calhoun  to  Jackson,  Breck- 
inridge  to  Linn,  Wise  to  Chase,  and  were  about  transforming 


AMONG   THE   GRASSHOPPERS. 


554  FARMING    BY    MACHINERY.  [1866. 

Douglas  to  Lincoln,  when  the  Little  Giant  became  their  advocate 
by  opposing  the  Lecompton  constitution.  Atchison,  Doniphan, 
Davis  (from  Jefferson  Davis,)  Marshall,  Leaven  worth,  Coffey, 
Woodson  and  Johnson,  all  commemorating  Pro-slavery  leaders, 
are  still  retained. 

We  passed  into  Nemeha  and  Marshall,  with  many  farms  along 
the  timbered  creeks,  but  few  on  the  high  prairies.  Here,  seventy 
miles  from  the  railway,  though  with  the  locomotive  approaching 
by  two  lines,  unimproved  lands  were  held  at  two  to  five  dollars 
per  acre,  and  farms  at  eight  to  twenty-five  dollars.  Settlers 
have  grown  rich  supplying  emigrants,  and  freighters  to  Colorado 
and  Utah.  At  Marysville,  a  large  flouring  mill,  running  night 
and  day,  supplies  an  extensive  region.  Until  lately,  Kansas 
farmers  shipped  their  wheat  to  St.  Louis,  and  bought  flour 
from  the  same  city;  but  with  age  comes  wisdom.  Marysville 
was  long  the  outpost  of  civilization ;  now  settlements  extend  a 
hundred  miles  westward. 

We  passed  several  thrifty  villages,  each  with  its  weekly  news 
paper  ;  and  many  excellent  farms.  Beside  our  road  a  threshing 
machine,  run  by  eight  horses  and  twelve  men,  was  taking  out  of 
the  straw  four  hundred  bushels  of  wheat  a  day.  Horse-rakes, 
mowers,  planters,  and  quadruple  'stirring-plows'  begin  to  abound. 
^Machinery  is  increasing  fourfold  the  efficiency  of  labor.  This 
riding  around  the  country  on  the  spring  seat  of  a  mower  or  planter, 
is  little  like  the  old  farming  of  New  England  !  The  great  unsup- 
plied  need  is  the  steam  plow,  but  that  will  surely  come. 

We  got  lost  on  blind  trails;  feasted  on  wild  plums;  and  gained 
scorched  noses  and  tanned  cheeks.  At  the  week's  end  we  again 
reached  Topeka,  whence  I  continued  westward. 

Manhattan,  a  busy  town  of  one  thousand  people,  at  the  junc 
tion  of  Kansas  and  Big  Blue  rivers,  is  within  a  few  miles  of  the 
geographical  center  of  the  United  States.  On  this  remote  fron 
tier,  beyond  forty-nine  fiftieths  of  our  present  population,  is  the 
hub  of  the  continent,  if  not  'of  the  universe.  Most  business 
blocks  and  dwellings  in  the  vicinity  are  of  light  magnesian  lime 
stone.  The  scarcity  of  lumber  is  a  blessed  thing  for  Kansas. 
It  secures  buildings  of  brick  and  stone,  instead  of  log  shanties  and 
frame  shells. 


1866.]        WOMEN    VOTING    ON    SCHOOL    MATTERS.  555 

I  encountered  an  old  Boston  and  Colorado  and  Arkansas  friend 
— a  gentleman  from  everywhere — who  had  abandoned  pioneering 
and  soldiering  for  sheep-raising.  He  insisted  that  twenty  thou 
sand  dollars  capital  and  a  few  years  of  close  attention  to  the 
business  must  insure  an  immense  fortune. 

The  Agricultural  college,  a  generous  stone  structure  of  three 
stories,  overlooks  Manhattan  and  a  grand  sweep  of  surrounding 
country.  Tuition  is  free,  the  State  supporting  the  institution. 
It  is  munificently  endowed  with  ninety  thousand  acres  of  richest 
land.  The  regular  course  varies  little  from  that  of  our  older  uni 
versities,  though  offering  a  liberal  option  in  branches.  One  of 
the  professors  showed  me  a  section  of  the  backbone  and  verte 
brae  of  a  whale,  lately  found — the  oldest  inhabitant  of  Kansas  yet 
heard  from. 

The  college,  like  all  other  educational  institutions  sustained  by 
the  State,  knows  no  distinction  of  race,  color,  or  sex.  Of  the  one 
hundred  students,  more  than  half  are  girls.  They  take  the  regu 
lar  course;  they  will  receive  the  regular  degrees.  Thus  far  they 
excel  their  masculine  competitors  even  in  composition,  declama 
tion  and  the  higher  mathematics.  They  have  a  debating  club  and 
learn  parliamentary  law.  If  women  conduct  our  great  charities, 
they  must  hold  public  meetings ;  if  they  hold  public  meetings, 
they  must  know  the  rules  of  deliberative  bodies. 

Under  the  laws  of  Kansas,  women  of  eighteen  and  upward  may 
vote  on  every  question  in  district  school-meetings,  and  are  eligible 
to  all  offices  in  school-boards.  In  some  sections  they  do  not  vote  • 
in  others  they  turn  out  en  masse.  Many,  elected  trustees  and  su 
perintendents,  serve  with  great  zeal  and  practical  wisdom.  In  sev 
eral  districts  ladies  have  drawn  plans,  obtained  proposals,  let  the 
contracts  for  new  school-houses,  and  are  the  leading  spirits. 
Nowhere  did  I  hear  a  single  complaint  against  the  practical  work 
ings  of  the  law. 

All  honor  to  young  Kansas,  color-bearer  in  the  great  army  of 
progress !  Is  there  any  man  who  cannot  see  the  common  justice 
and  common  sense  of  giving  mothers  an  authoritative  voice  in  school 
matters  ?  Beside,  our  civilization  produces  a  large  class  of  women 
to  whom  the  traditional  limits  are  cruelty,  and  the  old  formulas 
inapplicable.  Many  will  always  be  without  husbands  or  home 


556  LAWRENCE;  THE  OLD  LANDMARK.         [1866. 

duties.  Many  will  always  be  denied  God's  best  gift — the  gift 
of  children.  And  many,  finding  their  little  circle  of  possibilities 
barren,  their  lives  empty  and  aimless,  from  mere  energy  and  rest 
lessness  plunge  into  vanities  and  frivolities  and — worse.  The 
charities  are  blessed ;  of  such  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  But  not 
every  woman,  even  of  the  best,  can  find  her  work  in  teaching 
a  pauper  school  or  sewing  flannel  for  indigent  contrabands.  One 
may  lack  the  offspring  of  Mrs.  John  Eogers  and  the  opportunity  of 
Florence  Nightingale,  without  being  at  heart  a  Lady  Teazle  or  a 
Becky  Sharp.  She  may  be  fitted  for  some  part  in  the  great 
affairs  and  absorbing  activities  which  make  the  lives  of  men  wor 
thy  and  satisfying,  because  purposeful  and  fruitful.  Give  her  a 
chance — a  fair  field  and  no  favor !  Let  old  paths  widen  and  new 
avenues  unlock  their  rusted  and  creaking  gates. 

Next  visiting  Lawrence,  I  found  the  historic  town — twice  de 
stroyed  for  its  fidelity  to  freedom — so  changed  in  six  years  that  I 
was  a  stranger  in  a  strange  land.  The  stone  fort  of  1856  yet 
looks  down  from  Mount  Oread ;  but  the  circular  mud  forts  have 
been  leveled  for  remorseless  *  improvements.'  It  was  a  great 
mistake.  Eeal  estate  is  plentiful,  especially  in  wet  weather. 
These  old  landmarks  should  have  been  preserved  forever.  I  could 
recognize  only  three  or  four  buildings. 

Quantrell's  raid  in  1863,  sacked  and  burned  the  town,  left 
every  business  survivor  bankrupt,  and  murdered  one  hundred 
and  eighty  unarmed  and  unresisting  people.  Yet  the  Richmond 
Examiner  pronounced  it  'justifiable  and  legitimate  warfare/  It 
was  the  foulest  deed  of  the  great  rebellion.  One  lady,  whose  aged 
husband  had  fallen  to  the  ground,  threw  herself  upon  him  and 
sought  to  shield  him  with  her  clothing  and  her  encircling  arms, 
when  the  pursuing  murderer  put  her  dress  aside  and  blew  out 
his  brains.  It  is  said  that  she  has  never  smiled  since  that  ghastly 
experience. 

Massachusetts  street,  inclosed  by  brick  blocks  of  two,  three  and 
four  stories,  has  lengthened  three-fold  since  1860.  During  rain 
the  black  soil  is  just  as  muddy  and  sticky  as  when  the  pioneers, 
sitting  upon  barrels  and  boxes  in  a  solitary  tent,  first  welcomed 
Governor  Eeeder  with  the  never-to-be-omitted  speech-making. 

From  Mount  Oread,  the  State  universitv,  of  brick,  painted  in 


1866.] 


PAOLA;  THE  BORDER  COUNTIES, 


557 


awkward  imitation  of  stone,  stares  fixedly  down  upon  the  phoe 
nix-like  city  and  the  green  prairies  that  environ  it.  Lower,  a 
huge  windmill  for  grinding  corn  and  wheat  flaps  its  patient  wings. 


LAWRENCE   KANSAS,    AFTER   THE   QU  VNTRELL   RAID. 

Manufactories  hum  and  clink  among  the  dwellings.     Lawrence 
has  two  daily  newspapers,  and  a  lucrative  trade. 

I  visited  Paola,  county  seat  of  Miami,  fifteen  miles  from  the 
Missouri  line.  A  fort  which  did  mount  two  guns  survives  the 
war.  Through  the  rebellion,  these  people  had  to  sleep  upon  their 
arms.  Now  and  then  raiders  dashed  in,  sacked  towns,  robbed 
stores,  and  took  prisoners.  Still,  the  border  counties  of  Wyan- 
dotte,  Johnson,  Miami,  Linn  and  Bourbon,  contain  one-fourth  the 
entire  population  of  Kansas.  Timber  and  water  are  more  plenti 
ful  than  in  northern  sections.  The  great  salines  are  on  the  south 
ern  line.  The  immense  coal-beds  which  underlie  the  State,  and 
the  deposits  of  marble  and  lead,  crop  out  in  the  southeast  corner, 
near  Fort  Scott,  which  already  contains  more  than  three  thousand 
inhabitants,  and  is  fourth  town  in  the  Commonwealth.  In  Miami, 
oil  wells  are  being  opened.  The  State  geologist,  in  his  survey  of 

36 


558  ONE    CENT    PER    YEAR.  [1866. 

this  county,  found  '  more  than  twenty  places  where  petroleum 
flowed  from  rocks  and  soil  in  considerable  abundance,'  and 
'numerous  deposits  in  the  solid  form  of  asphaltum.' 

Though  Miami  county  is  yet  forty  miles  from  the  locomotive, 
unimproved  lands  command  five  to  twelve  dollars  per  acre. 
In  Johnson  county,  adjoining,  they  are  still  higher.  Near  Spring 
Hill,  a  pleas'ant  little  prairie  village,  I  found  Mr.  Sprague,  who 
settled  on  this  bare  prairie  nine  years  before,  living  in  a  white 
farm-house  of  two  stories;  with  one  barn  of  stone  and  another  of 
lumber,  luxuriant  hedges  of  Osage  orange,  groves  of  locust  and 
black  walnut/young  orchards,  broad  corn  and  wheat  fields;  and 
asking  ten  thousand  dollars  for  his  tract  of  one  hundred  and 
sixty  acres.  His  is  a  type  case.  In  riding  five  miles  to  the 
eastward,  where  in  1857  was  no  human  habitation,  I  saw  almost 
every  quarter-section  fenced,  with  dwellings  of  frame  or  stone, 
long  hedges,  young  shade-trees  and  great  expanses  of  grain. 

A  stage-coach  carries  the  mail  daily  from  Fort  Scott  to  Kansas 
City,  one  hundred  and  twenty  miles,  for  one  cent  per  year.  It  is 
the  lowest  contract  in  the  United  States.  The  passenger  business 
is  heavy,  and  the  proprietor  means  to  keep  off  competition.  By 
his  line  I  passed  through  Westport  Missouri,  now  dull  and  de 
serted,  but  once  flourishing,  and  handsomely  built.  Hence  issued 
Captain  Henry  Clay  Pate  of  Border  Ruffian  memory  to  capture 
John  Brown — and  was  himself  taken,  with  all  his  men,  by  the 
old  fighting  saint.  Pate  afterward  fell  in  the  great  war,  leading 
a  regiment  of  Virginia  rebel  cavalry. 

Kansas  City  grows  apace  ;  but  the  dusky  faces  of  the  Santa  Fe 
teamsters  who  first  gave  it  life,  are  seen  here  no  more  forever. 
They  now  load  their  wagons  at  the  railway  terminus,  two  hun 
dred  miles  westward. 

.  The  narrative  of  Lewis  and  Clark,  picturing  the  first  impressions 
of  this  region  received  by  white  visitors,  is  still  pleasant  reading 
to  one  familiar  with  the  country.  A  negro  servant  who  accom 
panied  them  was  an  unfailing  source  of  wonder,  and  sometimes  of 
terror,  to  the  Indians.  On  the  Missouri,  an  old  chief  told  Cap 
tain  Lewis  that  some  foolish  youths  of  his  tribe  had  circulated 
reports  of  a  man  who  was  black ;  but  he  knew  it  must  be  a  lie. 
When  first  confronted  with  the  Ethiopian,  the  solemn  brave 


1866.] 


KANSAS    AS    A    FARMING    STATE. 


559 


thought  the  darkey  must  be  painted.  But  finding  that  he  could 
not,  with  wet  finger,  rub  the  color  from  his  cheek,  he  went  away 
bewildered  and  alarmed. 

These  pioneer  explorers  reported  that  the  best  land  along  the 
great  river  as  between  the  mouth  of  the  Osage  and  the  mouth  of 
the  Platte.  This  undoubtedly  embraces  and  borders  upon  the 
largest  and  best  unbroken  farming  tract  on  the  globe.  Kansas  has 
had  only  two  injurious 
drowths  in  thirty  years. 
With  early  planting 
and  sowing,  and  deep 
plowing,  she  suffers  no 
more  from  dry  weather 
than  New  York  or 
Massachusetts.  Her 
soil  is  the  very  richest. 
There  is  not  a  swamp 
in  the  State.  It  is  diffi 
cult  to  find  ten  acres 
of  untillable  ground. 
Coal  underlies  almost 
every  county.  Lime 
stone  and  sandstone 
make  excellent  build 
ing  material,  and  Osage  orange  admirable  fences.  Cottonwood, 
black  walnut  and  maple  grow  large  enough  for  sawing  in  five 
years  from  the  seed. 

The  average  yield  of  corn  is  from  forty  to  sixty  bushels  to  the 
acre.  With  the  best  machinery,-  one  man  will  plant,  cultivate  and 
gather  fifty  acres  in  a  season.  The  hoe  is  never  used.  Weeds 
are  kept  down  by  plowing.  Wheat  yields  from  fifteen  to  forty 
bushels.  Oats  are  easily  raised  and  produce  largely.  In  one  in 
stance  one  hundred  and  seven  bushels  of  corn  were  gathered  from 
an  acre;  in  another,  ninety  bushels  of  oats.  Hay  is  a  natural 
crop,  grass  growing  from  five  to  ten  feet  high.  It  may  be  cut 
any  time  between  the  first  of  July  and  the  middle  of  November. 
Hungarian  and  other  cultivated  grasses  often  produce  three  or 
four  tons  to  the  acre.  The  Chinese  sugar-cane  succeeds  well. 


A   PAINTED   DARKEY. 


560  BEAUTIFY    THE    DWELLINGS.  [1866. 

Stock-raising  is  the  most  lucrative  pursuit.  In  1866,  Kansas 
sold  more  than  a  million  dollars  worth  of  cattle  to  Illinois  alone. 
Illinois  is  fenced  in.  She  lacks  grazing  capacity,  but  winters 
the  stock  and  then  sends  it  to  eastern  markets.  Grapes,  cherries, 
apples,  peaches,  strawberries,  gooseberries,  currants,  and  blackber 
ries  thrive.  As  a  fruit  State,  I  think  Kansas  will  have  no  equal 
in  the  Union,  except  California. 

All  vines  arid  flowers  grow  luxuriantly.  The  sun  never  shone 
upon  lovelier  expanses.  Nowhere  else  is  Nature  so  kind.  To 
build  a  road,  the  settler  has  nothing  to  'do  but  drive  over  the 
prairie  wherever  he  wants  to  go.  To  raise  a  grove,  one  need 
only  plow  the  field,  and  trees  spring  up  spontaneously.  To  open 
a  farm,  he  simply  breaks  the  soil  and  plants  his  corn  upon  the 
upturned  sward.  To  inclose  it,  he  puts  in  the  Osage  orange;  for 
one  or  two  seasons  replants  what  the  gophers  destroy ;  and  in  four 
years  he  has  a  fence  equal  to  a  stone  wall. 

But  in  many  sections  the  eye  is  pained  by  the  absence  of  fruit 
and  shade  trees,  and  the  lack  of  beauty  in  dwellings.  Residences 
are  plenty — homes  few.  The  slovenly  log  houses,  with  jet-black 
bare  soil  all  around  them,  and  the  stiff  frame  dwellings  with  naked 
walls  and  glittering  white  paint,  all  standing  right  beside  the  road 
after  our  detestable  national  fashion,  have  no  single  attractive 
feature.  Beauty  at  first  cost  is  as  cheap  as  deformity,  and  a  great 
deal  more  remunerative  afterward.  In  a  new  country,  settlers 
are  poor.  Meat  and  raiment,  sheltering  the  head,  keeping  the 
wolf  from  the  door,  are  first  inexorable  necessities.  But  these 
Kansas  dwellings  are  plainer  and  uglier  than  those  of  Iowa,  "Wis 
consin,  or  Minnesota. 

Set  them  back  a  hundred  feet  or  a  hundred  yards  from  the  road. 
Then,  though  the  home  be  only  a  cabin,  have  greensward  not 
naked  dirt  about  it;  plant  trees  in  front;  open  a  flower-patch; 
"  throw  a  little  stoop  over  the  front  door,  or  a  bay-window  into  one 
end — any  thing  to  break  this  square,  dreary,  coffin-like  appear 
ance.  Let  rose  bushes  smile  under  the  window,  and  creepers 
cling  to  the  eaves,  and  clematis  fringe  and  entwine  the  doorway. 
Make  a  real  home,  be  it  never  so  homely,  and  let  the  boys  and  girls 
grow  up  under  its  mellowing  and  refining  influence. 

It  seems  only  yesterday  that  Stephen  A.  Douglas  introduced 


1866.]  PEACE  HATH  HER  VICTORIES.  561 

his  bill  organizing  Kansas  and  Nebraska ;  and  we  all  began  to 
ask: 

*  Where  are  they,  and  what  Indians  inhabit  them  T 
In  1853  there  were  not  one  hundred  white  settlers.  There  was 
absolutely  no  property  except  wild  land.  Kansas  real  estate 
and  personal  would  not  have  sold  under  the  hammer  for  one 
million  dollars.  Nothing  was  produced  except  a  little  corn  and 
beef  by  missionaries  and  Indians. 

Now,  the  value  of  property  in  the  State,  as  assessed  for  taxation 
is  fifty-five  millions  of  dollars.  And  one  encounters  in  full  opera 
tion  all  the  institutions  of  commerce,  society,  government,  educa 
tion  and  religion — school-houses  on  every  prairie;  homes  dotting 
hill  and  valley;  hamlets  with  neat  churches,  'their  taper  fingers 
pointing  to  heaven;7  great  cities;  generous  universities;  extensive 
manufactories;  a  net- work  of  railways;  and  these  late  lonely 
prairies  teeming  with  the  busy  life  of  a  quarter  of  a  million  of 
people.  These  be  the  victories  of  Peace,  no  less  renowned  than 
War. 


562  FROM    SAINT    JOSEPH    TO    OMAHA.  [1866. 


CHAPTER    XLVI. 

FKOM  St.  Joseph  to  Omaha  I  took  the  steamer  Colorado. 
The  little  stern-wheel  Ontario,  which  passed  up  the  Missouri  a 
week  before  us,  loaded  with  railway  iron,  had  snagged.  An  in 
surance  agent  came  up  on  our  boat  to  inspect  her.  He  must  have 
been  satisfied  that  there  was  no  fraud ;  for  we  found  the  wretched 
steamer  with  only  one  guard  above  water,  lying  half-overturned, 
and  bayoneted  through  the  heart.  Workmen  in  skiffs  were  cut 
ting  her  to  pieces  to  save  the  iron. 

Nebraska  City,  fronted  by  a  sand-bar  which  compels  boats  to 
land  below,  has  two  thousand  people.  Once  huge  blocks  were 
erected,  and  freighting  for  the  plains  made  the  town  a  miniature 
Babel.  Now  its  glory  has  departed,  drawn  to  Omaha  by  the  all- 
potent  locomotive.  Plattsmouth  is  at  the  mouth  of  the  shallow 
Platte,  which  stretches  long  arms  into  the  very  heart  of  the 
Kocky  Mountains.  The  stream  is  as  broad  as  the  Mississippi, 
and  looks  large  enough  for  the  Great  Eastern.  But  its  actual 
depth  can  hardly  average  fourteen  inches ;  and  in  dry  weather  it 
is  barely  navigable  for  shingles. 

A  bright  ruddy  boy  of  four  years,  who  had  been  playing  all 
over  our  cabin,  was  suddenly  smitten  with  cholera,  and  died  in  a 
few  hours.  At  midnight  the  engines  stopped,  a  plank  was  put 
out,  the  rude  coffin  carried  on  shore ;  and  in  the  deep  woods,  by 
flaring  torches,  the  little  fallen  bud  of  life  was  given  back  to  the 
kindly  earth.  The  family  were  emigrants  from  Missouri  to  Iowa. 
After  we  started  again,  the  agonizing  shrieks  of  the  poor  mother 
disturbed  every  sleeper  on  board,  though  she  had  five  other 
children  with  her — five  other  little  mouths  which  her  life  slaves 
itself  to  fill.  l  O  human  nature,  human  nature  !' 


1866.] 


A    BEAUTIFUL    TOWN-SITE. 


563 


Shallows  and  sand-banks  forced  us  to  land  a  mile  below  Omaha. 
The  young  city  will  have  to  compress  the  river  by  narrowing  the 
banks,  as  St.  Louis  did  the  Mississippi.  Omaha  is  not  on  the 
water's  edge  like  Leavenworth  and  other  Kansas  towns ;  but 


A   PART   OF    OMAHA,    IN     1867. 

leads  a  sprawling  existence  back  on  a  level  and  hill-side,  with  a 
broad  strip  of  lowland  intervening.  Its  area  is  immense ;  hori 
zontally  it  is  a  great  city. 

From  the  boat  I  could  not  detect  one  feature  of  beauty,  save  the 
white  capital  on  a  symmetric  hill  a  mile  away.  Bat  riding  up  to 
the  summit,  and  looking  back  down  upon  the  young  metropolis, 
I  saw  the  fairest  town-site  on  the  Missouri.  This  bird's-eye  view 


564  STKEET    SCENES    IN    OMAHA.  [1866, 

takes  in  many  shaded  and  beautiful  dwellings  upon  neighboring 
hills  ;  frame  warehouses  and  brick  blocks  springing  up  like  mush 
rooms  ;  a  level  floor  of  prairie  and  corn-field  which  stretches  for 
six  miles  up  to  Florence ;  broad,  smooth,  generous  avenues  point 
ing  from  the  State-house  down  to  the  Missouri ;  the  river  itself ;  and 
beyond  it,  rich  Iowa  prairies  extending  back  four  miles  to  Council 
Bluffs.  When  Lewis  and  Clark  penetrated  this  solitude,  they 
found  these  bold  hills  upon  the  eastern  bank  the  common  confer 
ence  ground  of  many  tribes,  and  named  them  'the  Council  Bluffs.' 

That  was  but  t  sixty  years  ago  ;  yet  this  region  was  less  known 
than  Siberia.  Now,  in  its  early  future,  will  rise  a  great  city,  heart 
of  a  dense  population,  on  the  grand  highway  of  travel  and  traffic 
for  the  whole  globe.  And  sixty  years  hence — what  imagination 
so  rich  and  wild  as  to  paint  that  picture?  The  center  of  an  em 
pire  stretching  from  north  pole  to  equator;  with  every  climate, 
every  product,  every  industry;  with  more  than  a  hundred  mil 
lions  of  people,  embodying  democracy,  illustrating  Christianity; 
giving  to  each  child,  though  the  offspring  of  ignorance,  poverty 
and  vice,  a  fair  start  in  the  race  of  life,  freedom  from  every  bur 
den,  and  the  rich  endowment  of  education  and  opportunity — . 
recognizing  in  every  man  and  woman,  even  those  we  name  out 
cast  and  criminal,  brothers  and  sisters  of  one  great  family,  whom 
the  same  loving  Father  made,  and  the  same  Teacher  died  to  re 
deem.  That  were  a  destiny  worth  the  having! 

From  1857  to  1864  Omaha  had  a  hard  struggle.  But  the  great 
Pacific  railroad  infused  wonderful  vigor;  and  I  found  the  little 
capital  of  Nebraska  the  liveliest  city  in  the  United  States.  The 
railway  company  had  erected  an  immense  brick  car-house,  engine* 
house,  and  machine  shops ;  and  five  or  six  hundred  buildings  had 
gone  up  during  the  summer.  One  brick  block  cost  a  hundred 
thousand  dollars.  Streets  were  being  graded,  sidewalks  thronged 
with  returned  gold-seekers,  discharged  soldiers,  farmers  selling  pro 
duce,  speculators,  Indians,  and  other  strange  characters  of  border 
life.  The  population  was  eight  thousand.  Single  grocery  houses 
were  doing  a  business  of  half  a  million  dollars  per  year ;  and 
the  pioneer  merchants  and  bankers  had  accumulated  fortunes. 
The  railroad  disbursed  a  quarter  of  a  million  dollars  per  month- 
Business  lots  commanded  from  two  to  five  thousand  dollars. 


1866.]  AN    ORIGINAL    AMERICAN.  565 

Here  was  George  Francis  Train,  at  the  head  of  a  great  com 
pany  called  the  Credit  Foncier,  organized  for  dealing  in  lands 
and  stocks — for  building  cities  along  the  railway  from  the  Mis 
souri  to  Salt  Lake.  This  corporation  had  been  clothed  by  the 
Nebraska  legislature  with  nearly  every  power  imaginable,  save 
that  of  reconstructing  the  late  rebel  States.  It  was  erecting  neat 
cottages  in  Omaha  and  at  other  points  west. 

Mr.  Train  owned  personally  about  five  hundred  acres  in  Omaha, 
which  cost  him  only  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  dollars  per 
acre— a  most  promising  investment.  He  is  a  noticeable,  ori 
ginal  American,  who  has  crowded  wonderful  and  varied  ex 
periences  into  his  short  life.  An  orphan  boy  employed  to  sweep 
the  counting-room,  he  rose  to  the  head  of  a  great  Boston  shipping 
house ;  then  established  a  branch  in  Liverpool ;  next  organized 
and  conducted  a  heavy  commission  business  in  Australia,  and 
astonished  his  neighbors  in  that  era  of  fabulous  prices,  with  Bru£- 
sels  carpets  and  marble  counters  and  a  free  champagne  luncheon 
daily  in  his  business  office.  Afterward  he  made  the  circuit  of  the 
world,  wrote  books  of  travel,  fought  British  prejudice  against  street 
railways,  occupying  his  leisure  by  fiery  and  audacious  American 
war  speeches  to  our  island  cousins,  until  he  spent  a  fortune,  and 
enjoyed  the  delights  of  a  month  in  a  British  prison. 

Thence  he  returned  to  America ;  lectured  everywhere ;  and 
now  he  is  trying  to  build  a  belt  of  cities  across  the  continent. 
At  least  a  magnificent  project.  Curiously  combining  keen  sa 
gacity  with  wild  enthusiasm,  a  man  who  might  have  built  the 
pyramids,  or  been  confined  in  a  straight  jacket  for  eccentricities, 
according  to  the  age  he  lived  in,  he  observes  dryly  that  since 
he  began  to  make  money,  people  no  longer  pronounce  him  crazy! 
He  says  Chicago  and  San  Francisco  have  more  'men  of  brains' 
than  any  other  cities  in  the  world — '  men  who  would  know  what 
to  do  in  an  earthquake,  a  fire,  or  a  shipwreck7 — a  definition  of 
brains  worthy  of  Fosco.  He  drinks  no  spirits,  uses  no  tobacco, 
talks  on  the  stump  like  an  embodied  Niagara,  composes  songs 
to  order  by  the  hour  as  fast  as  he  can  sing  them,  like  an  Italian 
improvisatore,  remembers  every  droll  story  from  Joe  Miller  to 
Artemus  Ward,  is  a  born  actor,  is  intensely  in  earnest,  and  has 
the  most  absolute  and  outspoken  faith  in  himself  and  his  future. 


566  OUT    ON    THE    PACIFIC    RAILROAD.  [1866. 

With  the  Government  commissioners,  •  who  were  present  to 
accept  a  new  twenty-miles  of  the  line,  I  went  out  to  the  end  of 
the  Pacific  railroad — then  two  hundred  and  forty  miles  west  of 
Omaha.  Making  a  short  elbow  to  the  south,  at  ten  miles 
out  the  railway  turns  westward  along  the  Platte  valley.  The 

embankments  for  the  iron  are 
seldom  more  than  three  or 
four  feet  high  ;  and  for  a  tan 
gent  of  forty  miles  the  road 
is  as  straight  as  the  track  of 
a  rifle-ball.  That  is  a  good 
place  for  studying  perspective. 
Eastern  Nebraska  is  a  capital 
farming  country,  though  more 
sandy,  and  less  rich  than 
Kansas. 

A   hundred    miles   out,   we 

GEORGE    FRANCIS   TRAIN.  , 

passed  (Jolumbus,  on  the  prai. 

ries.  It  promises  to  be  a  future  railway  focus.  Mr.  Train  and  his 
associates  believe  that  it  will  be  a  great  city,  capital  of  Nebraska, 
and  perhaps  of  the  United  States.  Stranger  things  have  hap 
pened.  Two  hundred  miles  out,  at  Kearney  station,  we  spent 
the  night  in  our  passenger  car,  improvising  beds,  with  boards, 
cushions  and  blankets,  upon  the  backs  of  the  seats.  Having 
traveled  to  Fort  Kearney  seven  times  by  wagon  and  coach,  I 
found  accomplishing  it  by  rail  in  a  few  hours  decidedly  agreeable. 

The  next  morning  we  started  on.  A  few  buffaloes  had  been 
killed  here  lately;  arid  now  we  saw  hundreds  of  antelopes  from 
our  train.  Some  came  within  two  hundred  yards,  curious  to  scru 
tinize  the  iron  monster  screeching  into  their  vast  domain. 
While  in  motion  we  aimed  hundreds  of  rifle-shots  at  them  from 
the  car  windows.  A  single  one,  from  General  Merrill,  took  effect, 
and  sent  its  beautiful  victim  limping  into  the  sand-hills. 

At  the  end  of  the  track,  on  the  smooth,  well-built  road,  we 
found  long  sleeping  and  eating-cars  for  the  workmen,  who  press 
forward  so  fast  that  only  portable  dwellings  will  serve  them.  All 
supplies  come  from  the  east.  The  sleepers  are  brought  down  the 
Missouri,  from  Iowa  forests.  About  half  are  soft  cottonwood; 


1866.]  TWO    AND-A-HALF    MILES    PER    DAY.  567 

but  Burnetizing  (infusing  with  zinc)  is  said  to  render  them  as  du 
rable  as  oak.  Many  of  the  timbers  for  bridges  are  of  black  wal 
nut,  often  sixteen  inches  square.  There  are  but  two  long  bridges 
east  of  the  Bocky  Mountains — one  of  fifteen  hundred  feet  across 
Loupe  Fork ;  another  of  half-a-mile  over  the  North  Platte. 

The  charter  permits  only  American  iron.  The  rails  are  from 
Pennsylvania  and  New  York.  We  found  the  workmen,  with  the 
regularity  of  machinery,  dropping  each  rail  in  its  place,  spiking 
it  down,  and  then  seizing  another.  Behind  them,  the  locomotive  ; 
before,  the  tie-layers  ;  beyond  these  the  graders  ;  and  still  further, 
in  mountain  recesses,  the  engineers.  It  was  Civilization  pressing 
westward — the  Conquest  of  Nature  moving  toward  the  Pacific. 

Thomas  C.  Durant,  vice-president  and  sole  contractor  of  the 
road,  has  furnished  the  energy  and  most  of  the  brains  for  carrying 
out  this  stupendous  national  enterprise.  He  has  pushed  the  line 
westward  with  a  rapidity  never  before  equaled.  It  used  to  be 
thought  a  great  feat  to  lay  one  mile  of  track  per  day;  but  here 
two  miles  and  even  two  and-a-half  have  been  laid  daily  for  weeks. 
The  head-quarters  of  the  company  are  in  New  York.  There  Mr. 
Durant  from  his  quiet  office,  directs  by  telegraph  the  labors  of 
twelve  thousand  men — an  army  which  it  requires  generalship 
to  handle,  particularly  when  its  commander  must  be  paymaster 
as  well. 

The  Platte  valley,  from  six  to  twenty  miles  wide,  is  incompara 
bly  the  most  favorable  railway  route  in  the  world — almost  a  dead 
level  from  the  Missouri  up  to  the  mountains.  For  five  hundred 
miles  the  grade  averages  only  seven  feet  to  the  mile. 

When  the  range  is  reached,  rolling  mills  will  be  erected 
for  making  rails,  iron  dug  from  the  hills,  and  ties  cut  from  the 
forests.  Though  the  highest  summit-crossing  contemplated  is 
more  than  eight  thousand  feet  above  sea-level,  it  is  believed  that 
no  heavier  grade  than  eighty  feet  to  the  mile  will  be  required. 

The  company  design  building  a  branch  to  Denver.  Their 
main  line  passes  nearly  one  hundred  miles  north  of  that  city. 
The  chief  Kansas  fork,  from  Wyandotte  up  the  Kaw  and  Smoky 
Hill,  will  join  the  main  stem  near  Denver.  It  will  probably  make 
that  connection  about  as  soon  as  the  California  and  Nebraska 
companies  unite  at  Salt  Lake.  Of  the  two  smaller  Kansas  forks 


668 


THE  THKEE  KANSAS  FORKS. 


[1866. 


the  northern,  from  St.  Joseph  westward,  will  unite  with  the  Platte 
valley  line;  and  the  southern,  from  Atchison,  with  the  Smoky 
Hill.  The  Wyandotte  and  Atchison  forks  receive  the  same  Con 
gressional  endowment  as  the  Nebraska  Union  Pacific  and  the 
California  Central  Pacific — twelve  hundred  and  eighty  acres  of 
land  and  sixteen  thousand  dollars  in  Government  bonds  for  each 


THOMAS  C.    DURANT,    BUILDER  OF   UNION   PACIFIC   RAILROAD. 

mile  completed.  Passing  no  hilly  regions,  they  do  not  obtain  the 
higher  subsidies. 

The  uniform  width  established  upon  the  trunk  line  and  all  its 
branches  is  four  feet  eight  and-a-half  inches.  That  corresponds 
with  most  eastern  roads,  and  will  give  an  unbroken  gauge  from 
San  Francisco  to  New  York,  via  Omaha  and  Chicago. 

When  the  California  builders  have  passed  down  the  eastern  side 


1866.]   TWENTY-FIVE  THOUSAND  MEN  EMPLOYED.      569 

of  the  Sierras  to  find  smooth  sailing,  the  road  from  Omaha  will 
strike  the  Rocky  Mountains  and  hard  work.  But  ample  prepara 
tion  is  made  for  it.  The  summer  of  1867  opens  with  twenty -five 
thousand  men  employed  on  the  main  stem  of  the  Pacific  Railway; 
and  the  California  and  Nebraska  companies  expect  their  locomotives 
to  meet  in  the  vicinity  of  Salt  Lake  early  in  1870.  Speed  the  day ! 

DISTANCES. 

New  York  to  Chicago, 979  miles. 

Chicago  to  Omaha, 500  miles. 

Omaha  to  Salt  Lake  City, 1,035  miles. 

Salt  Lake  to  Sacramento, 625  miles. 

Sacramento  to  San  Francisco, 80  miles. 

New  York  to  San  Francisco, 3,219  miles. 

EIGHTS  ABOVE  SEA  LEVEL. 

Omaha,   1,000  feet. 

Crossing  of  North  Platte, 2,790  feet. 

Eastern   base  Rocky  Mountains, 4,534  feet. 

Highest  summit-crossing  Rocky  Mountains, 8,230  feet 

Salt  Lake  City, 4,286  feet. 

Summit-crossing  of  Sierras, 7,042  feet. 

Sacramento,  (on   tide- water,) 00  feet. 

Along  the  Platte  are  the  old  hunting-grounds  of  the  Pawnee 
Loupes,  whose  horrible  sacrifices  of  prisoners  captured  in  war,  to 
Venus  their  great  star,  are  described  by  Lewis  and  Clark.  The 
story  of  these  old  chroniclers,  who  saw  the  early  and  real 
romance  of  the  continent,  tempts  me  to  borrow  from  it  once  more. 
Up  the  river,  within  the  present  limits  of  Dacotah,*  they  found 
ferocious  brown  bears,  killing  one  whose  foot  measured  eleven 
by  seven  and-a-half  inches,  exclusive  of  the  claws.  After  a  little 
experience  in  hunting  them,  Captain  Lewis  recorded  in  his  journal : 
1  We  had  rather  encounter  two  Indians  than  one  brown  bear !'  A 
few  days  later,  several  soldiers  wounded  one  of  the  brutes,  when 
he  suddenly  turned  upon  them,  undismayed  by  the  pelting 
bullets.  One  ball  broke  his  shoulder,  but  retarded  him  only  for 
a  moment.  Giving  the  hunters  no  time  to  reload,  he  compelled 
them  to  throw  away  their  guns,  drove  them  pell-mell  down  a  per 
pendicular  bank  of  twenty  feet  into*  the  river;  and  sprang  after 

*  Original  name  of  the  Sioux  nations,  and  signifying:  ' Leagued'  or  'allied.' 


570          AN    EXPERIENCE    OF    LEWIS    AND    CLARK.     [1866. 

them.  He  had  almost  overtaken  the  hindmost,  when  a  fatal  bul 
let  was  lodged  in  his  head.  That  was  at  least  more  exciting  than 
the  hunting  of  these  days. 

After  I  returned  to  Omaha,  Destiny  confronted  me  for  three 
weeks  in  the  form  of  malarial  fever,  with  a  daily  six-hour  par 
oxysm  of  neuralgia  in  the  eye  instead  of  the  chill  which  ought 
to  have  accompanied  it  by  all  physiological  proprieties.  A  pro* 
tracted  diet  in  darkened  rooms,  upon  all  the  drowsy  sirups  of 


BEAR  HUNTING  SIXTY   YEARS   AGO. 


the  East,  taught  me  that  the  confessions  of  an  opium-eater  are 
more  agreeable  than  his  experiences. 

The  Hern  don  House,  where  I  lodged,  was  a  seat  of  war.  The 
landlord's  lease  had  expired,  and  the  proprietor  was  trying  to 
eject  him.  There  was  lively  skirmishing  all  along  the  line.  By 
night  the  owner  would  fling  out  the  furniture  and  move  in  the 
effects  of  the  new  lessee.  The  next  morning,  host  would  put  out 
this  furniture  and  return  his  own.  There  was  an  incessant  explo 
sion  of  epithets  and  display  of  revolvers.  The  novelty  (for  a  sick 
man)  soon  wore  off;  and  I  retreated  to  Council  Bluffs,  on  the  Iowa 


1866.]  A     TRIP     ACROSS     IOWA.  571 

bank.  Several  railways  will  center  here,  and  the  town  has  a 
healthy  trade.  Growing  trees  shade  its  streets ;  and  graceful 
homes  nestle  in  little  glens  of  the  bluff  which  walls  it  in  on  the 
east. 

*  Iowa ' — '  the  sleepy  ones ' — was  the  name  of  a  branch  of  the 
Sioux  Indians.  The  State  is  well  watered,  well  timbered,  rich  in 
soil,  and  has  already  three-quarters  of  a  million  of  people.  From 
Council  Bluffs  I  came  eastward,  the  first  sixty  miles  by  stage,  as 
a  gap  in  the  Chicago  and  Northwestern  Railway  was  unfilled. 

In  the  East,  railroads  are  built  for  the  towns ;  on  the  border 
they  build  the  towns.  Upon  this  Iowa  line,  locating  the  depots 
was  left  to  two  persons.  They  manifested  an  avarice  for  dona 
tions  of  lands  and  lots  to  themselves,  unusual  even  in  this  longi 
tude.  If  the  owners  of  any  village  refused  to  comply,  they  could 
run  the  cars  by,  establish  a  station  on  the  bare  prairies  beyond, 
and  kill  the  town  by  establishing  a  new  one.  The  chief  owner 
of  one  flourishing  hamlet  assured  me  that  he  spent  nineteen 
thousand  dollars  in  buying  every  tract  of  land  along  the  line  for 
several  miles,  where  by  any  possibility  they  could  make  a  station 
and  start  a  rival  settlement.  Then  he  gave  them  a  liberal  num 
ber  of  lots.  So  his  town  is  a  railroad  point  and  he  puts  money 
in  his  purse. 

He  ought  to  succeed.  Years  ago  he  settled  on  the  prairie  be 
yond  civilization,  buying  thirty  thousand  acres  of  wild  land. 
When  there  were  a  hundred  settlers  and  the  county  was  organ 
ized,  bids  began  to  come  in  for  the  shire  town,  as  that  would 
make  an  important  point  wherever  established.  He  offered  to 
give  the  county  forty  acres  in  his  prospective  village  ;  to  build  a 
brick  court-house  from  his  private  means,  and  also  a  school-house, 
hotel,  and  store.  Eivals  hid  their  diminished  heads ;  and  his 
town  became  the  county  seat. 

At  midnight  the  train-boy  awoke  me  with  the  information : 

'We  are  crossing  the  Mississippi.' 

Eising  drowsily  upon  one  elbow,  I  looked  down  from  my 
window  at  the  great  river,  as  our  train  glided  slowly  over  it. 
Soon  we  shall  ride  from  New  York  to  San  Francisco  in  one 
week,  without  change  of  cars.  Around  the  world  by  railway, 
with  two  ocean  ferries! 


572  'PANDEMONIUM   ON   WHEELS.'         [1869. 


CHAPTER   XLVII. 


AUTHORS  and  census-takers  must  be  swift  of  foot  to  keep  pace 
with  progress  beyond  the  Mississippi.  Every  twelvemonth  it  needs 
a  new  gazetteer  and  a  revised  map.  The  two  years  since  this 
book  went  to  press  have  witnessed  so  many  changes  that  a  few 
chapters  are  now  added  to  bring  it  forward  to  the  early  summer 
of  1869. 

Wyoming,  twice  as  large  as  Pennsylvania,  was  formed  in  1868 
from  portions  of  Dacotah,  Montana,  Utah,  and  Colorado.  It 
probably  averages  six  thousand  feet  above  sea-level.  It  has 
enormous  beds  of  rich  coal,  and  promising  veins  of  gold-bearing 
quartz.  The  barren-looking  soil  affords  boundless  pasturage,  and 
may  yet  surprise  the  farmer  by  yielding  bountifully  of  the  root 
vegetables,  the  hardy  fruits,  and  the  small  grains. 

All  the  slender  population  thus  far  is  along  the  Union  Pacific 
Eailway,  an  enterprise  to  which  Wyoming  owes  its  birth.  The 
chief  town  is  Cheyenne,  where  the  Denver  branch  diverges.  For 
several  months  it  was  the  terminal  station  of  the  main  line,  and 
was  infested  by  the  thieves,  gamblers,  desperadoes,  and  prosti 
tutes,  who  swarmed  to  each  successive  '  end  town,'  and  gave  it 
the  name  of  'Hell  on  Wheels.'  Now  and  then  a  vigilance  com 
mittee  purified  the  atmosphere.  It  is  related  that  when  one 
notorious  character  was  tried  for  stealing,  and  the  evidence  proved 
insufficient,  the  jurors  returned  this  verdict :  ( We  find  the  pris 
oner  not  guilty,  but  if  he  is  smart  he  will  leave  this  town  within 
twenty -four  hours.'  He  glanced  at  the  gallows  from  which  two 
of  his  associates  had  been  found  dangling  a  few  mornings  before ; 
and  he  did  leave  by  the  first  train. 

Though  more  than  a  mile  above  tide- water,  Cheyenne  is  on  the 


1869.]  HIGHEST    EAILWAY    POINT    IN    AMERICA.    573 

open,  treeless  prairie,  with  mountains  only  far  away  and  dim- 
discovered.  Thirty  miles  to  the  west,  however,  the  track  crosses 
Sherman's  or  Evans's  Pass,  eight  thousand  three  hundred  feet 
above  the  sea — the  highest  railway  point  in  America,  if  not  in 
the  world.  Even  this  is  not  the  backbone  of  the  Eocky  Moun 
tains,  but  only  of  the  Black  Hills,  an  eastern  offshoot,  whose 
summits  do  look  almost  black  in  the  distance. 

Colorado  is  growing  steadily  and  healthily.  It  has  seventy- 
five  thousand  head  of  cattle,  and  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
of  sheep ;  and  the  crops  for  1868  were  valued  at  six  millions  of 
dollars.  Eighteen  flouring  mills  are  in  operation.  Thirty  bushels 
of  corn  or  wheat  to  the  acre,  forty  of  barley,  and  fifty  of  oats  are 
average  products.  Exceptional  yields  are  reported,  of  seventy- 
five  bushels  of  wheat,  two  hundred  and  fifty  of  potatoes,  and 
seventy  of  oats  and  barley ;  and  one  acre  yielded  three  hundred 
and  sixteen  bushels  of  corn.  Cabbages  have  been  raised  weighing 
sixty  pounds,  beets  ten  pounds,  and  onions  two  pounds.  All 
this  is  very  wonderful  in  a  region  which  so  lately  had  no  white 
inhabitants,  and  was  believed  to  be  utterly  sterile. 

Female  '  help '  is  scarce  and  correspondingly  precious.  In 
some  mining  districts,  kitchen  girls  still  attend  the  same  balls 
with  their  mistresses,  on  terms  of  perfect  equality.  Even  in 
Denver  their  services  command  from  fifty  to  seventy -five  dollars 
a  month.  But  the  scepter  is  departing  from  Hibernia ;  John 
Chinaman,  with  his  willing  hands,  and  his  yellow,  impassive  face, 
will  supersede  Biddy  the  loud  and  intractable. 

Summer  travelers  already  throng  to  Colorado,  to  enjoy  its 
delicious  atmosphere  and  rare  scenery.  The  four  mountain  parks, 
each  more  than  a  mile  above  the  sea,  and  as  large  as  Rhode  Island 
or  Massachusetts,  are  unmatched  in  the  world.  In  the  North 
Park,  deer,  antelopes,  wolves,  and  bears  are  still  plentiful.  At  the 
Middle  Park  Hot  Springs,  a  stream  five  inches  in  diameter  and 
with  a  temperature  of  one  hundred  and  ten  degrees  Fahrenheit — 
as  hot  as  the  body  can  bear — tumbles  over  a  bank  a  dozen  feet 
high.  It  affords  a  delicious  hot  shower-bath,  and  a  hot  plunge 
in  the  pool  below ;  and  wonderful  cures  are  attributed  to  its 
waters.  The  South  Park  is  described  on  page  309.  San  Luis 
Park,  the  largest  of  all — partly  in  Colorado  and  ^  artly  in  New 
37 


574  GROWTH     OF     MANUFACTURES.  [1867. 

Mexico — holds  a  shining  lake,  framed  in  deep  green  sward,  and 
fringed  with  graceful  pines. 

In  the  mountains  and  foot-hills,  factories  begin  to  spring  up. 


HANGING    ROCK,     ECHO    CITY,    UTAH — TJNION    PACIFIC    RAILROAD. 

How  could  it  be  otherwise  where  water-power,  fuel,  wool,  and 
lumber  abound,  and  the  earth  teems  with  gold,  silver,  copper, 
iron,  and  coal  ?  Manufacturing,  everywhere  from  Minnesota  to 
California,  is  growing  wonderfully.  At  a  recent  meeting  of 
Northwestern  woolen  manufacturers  in  Chicago,  almost  three 
hundred  factories  were  represented.  The  National  Watch  Com 
pany  of  Elgin,  Illinois,  is  making  a  hundred  and  twenty-five 
watches  a  day,  and  not  only  selling  more  than  half  of  them  in  the 
Eastern  States,  but  actually  filling  large  orders  for  India  by  the 
way  of  London.  If  the  West  can  compete  with  the  East  in  a 
manufacture  so  delicate,  so  complex,  and  so  costly  as  that  of 
watches,  what  possible  branch  is  there  in  which  it  can  not  ?  And 
a  few  years  hence,  will  the  prairies  and  the  mountains — dotted 


1867.]          A     VOYAGE     WITHOUT     PARALLEL.  575 

all  over  with  factories — demand  Protection  as  earnestly  as  they 
now  demand  Free  Trade  ? 

Utah,  more  remote  than  Colorado,  is  less  known  for  its  scenery. 
Like  railways  in  general,  the  Pacific  crosses  the  most  uninterest 
ing  spots  ;  but  it  could  not  dodge  all  the  natural  wonders.  At 
Echo  City  it  passes  beside  'Hanging  Rock,'  a  projecting  mass  of 
conglomerate  a  thousand  feet  high.  Hard  by,  to  the  left,  is 
*  Pulpit  Rock,'  or  '  Brigham's  Pulpit,'  eighty  feet  high.  Below 
winds  a  shining  stream,  and  the  whole  forms  a  unique  picture. 

A  Gentile,  it  is  said,  repeated  to  Brigham  Young  the  common 
prediction,  that  the  great  thoroughfare  would  bring  his  people 
into  close  contact  with  the  rest  of  the  world,  and  thus  destroy 
Mormonism.  Brigham  replied : 

1  Mine  must  be  a  d d  poor  religion  if  it  won't  stand  one 

railroad  ?' 

Nevertheless  all  the  leading  railway  towns  are  Gentile  towns. 
They  utterly  defy  Mormon  authority  and  drive  away  Mormon 
officials,  treating  the  Saints  exactly  as  the  Saints  have  always 
treated  our  Government,  so  far  as  they  dared.  As  yet,  therefore, 
it  continues  a  very  serious  problem,  whether  Brigham's  system 
will  '  stand  one  railroad.' 

The  Big  Canyon  of  the  Colorado,  illustrated  on  page  473,  was 
lately  the  scene  of  a  voyage,  perhaps  without  parallel  in  authentic 
human  history.  Indians  and  trappers  hava  always  believed  that 
no  man  could  thread  this  stupendous  gorge,  hundreds  of  miles 
long,  with  its  unknown  cataracts  and  its  frowning  rock  walls  a 
mile  high,  and  come  out  alive.  But  one  has  done  it,  and  lives  to 
tell  the  tale.  In  August,  1867,  three  Colorado  gold-hunters 
were  prospecting  on  Grand  River,  just  above  where  it  unites  with 
Green  River  to  form  the  Colorado,  One  morning  while  they  were 
breakfasting,  an  Indian  yell,  accompanied  by  whistling  bullets  and 
singing  arrows,  suddenly  saluted  them.  The  Utes  were  upon 
them  ! 

Baker,  the  captain  of  the  party,  fell,  shot  through  the  head. 
The  two  others,  James  White  and  George  Strole,  rushed  down  to 
the  river.  While  the  savages  lingered,  plundering  their  camp, 
securing  their  mules  and  scalping  their  dead  comrade,  White 
and  Strole  tied  three  or  four  cottonwood  logs  together  with  their 


576 


INTO     THE     YAST     CANYON. 


[1867. 


lariat  ropes,  threw  a  little  sack  of  flour  on  board,  instantly  pushed 
off  upon  the  frail  raft  and  floated  down  the  river. 

They  knew  dimly 
of  the  great  canyon, 
but  fancied  it  so 
short  that  they  could 
pass  through  it  in 
two  days.  The  first 
night,  they  tied  their 
raft  to  a  tree,  supped 
on  raw  flour  and 
water,  as  they  had 
no  matches,  and 
slept  upon  the  bank. 
All  the  second  day 
they  glided  on,  be 
tween  low  grassy 
shores.  The  current 
increased,  and  they 
passed  over  some 
rapids  which  swept 
their  flour  from  the 
raft,  and  soaked  and 
ruined  the  gunpow 
der  in  their  revolv 
ers.  But  they  sup 
ped  cheerily  on  wild 
mesquite  beans,  and 
again  slept  soundly 
upon  the  ground. 

Before  noon  on 
the  third  day  they  had  entered  the  vast  gorge.  Black  towering 
walls  shut  out  the  sun,  and  compressed  the  river  into  narrow 
limits.  The  current  grew  swift,  and  ahead  the  roar  of  rapids 
was  heard.  White  lashed  himself  to  the  logs,  but  Strole  said: 

'  We  can  run  this  little  fall  without  doing  that.  If  we  are  tied 
we  may  get  entangled  with  the  logs  and  drown  before  we  can  free 
ourselves.' 


A  MOST  WONDERFUL  VOYAGE. 


1867.]  ELEVEN     DAYS     OF     HORRORS.  577 

The  raft  reached  the  edge,  balanced  upon  it  for  a  second,  the 
two  riders  looking  down  with  clinched  lips  and  white  cheeks,  and 
then  made  the  plunge.  White  was  half  torn  from  his  lashings  and 
nearly  suffocated.  Upon  rising  to  the  surface,  he  found  himself 
clinging  to  one  log,  in  an  eddy.  Twenty  feet  away  Strole,  probably 
bruised  by  a  rock  or  log,  was  feebly  buffeting  the  current. 
White  shouted  to  him'  to  be  of  good  cheer ;  but  before  he  could 
reach  him  Strole  sank  without  a  cry. 

White  crept  upon  an  island  and  gave  himself  up  to  black  de 
spair.  The  loneliness  of  the  grave  beset  him.  To  go  back  was 
impossible.  To  stay,  was  death  from  starvation.  To  go  forward 
might  be  death  from  starvation,  or  from  drowning,  or  from  being 
mangled  upon  jutting  rocks.  Yet  it  involved  a  chance  for  life, 
and  he  finally  rallied  to  try  for  it. 

Again  lashing  his  logs  tightly  together,  he  gathered  for  food  all 
the  mesquite  beans  he  could  find  on  the  island.  He  wrote  in  his 
memorandum-book  an  account  of  his  own  condition  and  the  loss 
of  his  companions  and  placed  it  carefully  in  his  pocket,  that  his 
floating  body  might  be  identified  and  their  fate  explained  if  he 
should  die  before  reaching  the  settlements. 

Then  he  started  on.  His  terrible  journey  lasted  eleven  days 
longer.  He  went  over  many  rapids  and  cascades,  from  four  to 
twenty-five  feet  high.  He  usually  lashed  himself  to  the  raft  on 
approaching  a  fall ;  and  he  had  many  hair-breadth  scapes  from 
drowning.  The  logs  were  often  torn  apart  and  the  ropes  cut  by 
sharp  rocks  ;  but  at  the  little  island  below  each  cascade  he  re-tied 
them  as  well  as  he  could.  On  these  islands  too  he  slept,  and 
sometimes  found  a  few  more  mesquite  beans. 

Once,  for  two  days  he  tasted  nothing  but  the  leather  of  a  knife 
scabbard.  Once  a  few  wandering  Indians  gave  him  some  mes 
quite  bread.  He  would  fain  have  killed  and  eaten  the  lizards 
on  the  sands,  but  he  had  grown  too  weak  to  catch  even  those 
sluggish  reptiles.  His  hat,  pantaloons,  boots,  and  stockings  were 
torn  off  by  the  rocks  and  waters.  For  hours  he  sat  upon  the  logs 
under  the  broiling,  vertical  sun,  until  his  legs  were  one  mass  of 
blisters.  His  strength  failed  until  he  could  hardly  hold  up  his 
head ;  and  through  long  days  he  was  half  unconscious.  Thus 
more  dead  than  alive,  on  the  twelfth  evening  he  emerged  from 


578  THE     GKOWTH     OF     MONTANA.  [1869. 

the  canyon,  and  ate  ravenously  of  the  flesh  of  a  dog,  which  he 
had  induced  some  Indians  to  kill  for  him  by  the  gift  of  his 
rusty  revolver. 

His  whole  journey  lasted  fourteen  days,  during  seven  of  which 
he  tasted  no  food  whatever.  Finally,  he  reached  Callville,  Ne 
vada,  the  head  of  steamboat  navigation  on  the  Colorado.  When 
his  raft  struck  the  shore  he  could  not  walk.  His  reason  was 
almost  gone,  his  frame  emaciated,  his  half- naked  body  covered 
with  loathsome  sores,  his  cheeks  hollow,  his  eyes  wild  and  sunken, 
and  his  hair  and  beard  as  white  as  snow.  The  first  person  who 
saw  this  ghastly  figure  crawling  along  on  the  sand,  exclaimed  : 

'  My  God  !  There  is  a  man  a  hundred  years  old.' 
.  Both  his  health  and  reason  were  finally  restored.  His  unpar 
alleled  journey  was  over  five  hundred  miles  long.  What  a 
romance  his  adventures  would  make !  Let  Charles  Reade  or 
Yictor  Hugo  take  James  White  for  a  hero,  and  give  us  a  new 
novel  to  hold  children  from  play  and  old  men  from  the  chimney 
corner.  But  let  the  novelist  for  once  pity  and  spare  us,  and  not 
transform  poor  White  into  a  walking  cyclopedia  of  all  knowl 
edge,  recorded  and  unrecorded,  natural  and  supernatural,  like 
Faria  in  'The  Count  of  Monte-Christo,'  or  Gilliat  in  'The  Toilers 
of  the  Sea.'  or  Robert  Penfold  in  'Foul  Play.' 

Montana  grows  apace.  Half  the  quartz  mills  are  idle  ;  twenty 
per  cent,  perhaps  from  bad  management,  twenty  per  cent,  from 
bad  machinery,  and  ten  per  cent,  from  bad  locations.  One  New 
York  company,  from  a  combination  of  all  these  causes,  has  spent 
half  a  million  of  dollars  without  realizing  ten  thousand.  Still, 
in  its  yield  of  bullion  Montana  is  exceeded  only  by  California 
and  Nevada.  The  most  important  quartz  interests  are  in  the 
hands  of  a  young  miner  from  Pennsylvania,  who  at  fifteen  did 
not  know  a  letter  of  the  alphabet,  at  twenty-one  had  made  and 
lost  a  fortune  in  Nevada,  and  now,  though  under  twenty-five,  has 
dug  out  a  second  fortune  in  Montana.  Flouring  mills  are  be 
coming  numerous,  and  the  Territory  is  already  producing  wheat 
enough  for  home  consumption.  One  forty-acre  field  in  Prickly- 
Pear  valley  yielded  fifty-seven  and  a  half  bushels  to  the  acre. 
Helena,  now  the  chief  town,  boasts  seven  thousand  people,  three 
daily  newspapers,  fine  blocks  of  brick  and  stone,  club-houses,  a 


1869.]    AMERICAN     BREADSTUFFS     FOR     ASIA.         57-9 

skating  rink,  agricultural  fair-grounds,  and  many  pleasant  drives. 
Freight  from  New  York  to  Helena,  via  Sioux  City  and  Fort 
Benton,  now  costs  but  eleven  cents  a  pound ;  expressage  (over 
land)  one  dollar  a  pound ;  letter  postage  ninety  cents  a  pound ; 
passenger  fare  through,  by  railroad  and  stage,  two  hundred  and 
sixty  dollars,  exclusive  of  meals. 

Many  hot  springs  gush  from  the  mountains)  some  even  rang 
ing  in  temperature  from  one  hundred  and  thirty  to  one  hundred 
and  sixty  degrees  Fahrenheit.  Their  water  is  often  as  pure  as 
that  of  the  purest  cold  springs.  The  population  increases  stead 
ily.  Several  thousand  Chinamen  from  California  have  already 
arrived,  and  Montana — alone,  I  believe,,  of  all  our  mining  States 
—has  not  a  single  law  upon  her  statute  books  discriminating 
against  them. 

Idaho  is  prospering,  particularly  in  the  Owyhee  region.  The 
mines  are  gradually  falling  into  the  hands  of  experienced  West 
ern  men.  In  the  Flint  district  a  party  of  old  San  Francisco 
miners,  who  have  been  millionaires  and  beggars  half  a  dozen 
times  apiece,  have  erected  the  largest  gold  and  silver  reduction 
works  in  the  United  States-.  The  valleys  are  rapidly  filling  up 
with  farmers. 

Oregon  is  building  railways,  increasing  steadily  her  lumber, 
gold,  and  wheat  products,  and  developing  her  rich  mines  of  iron 
and  coal.  The  growth  of  Washington  Territory  is  less  rapid,  but 
its  future,  perhaps,  equally  great. 

California  thrives  in  her  manifold  industries.  The  State  is 
exporting  eight  millions  of  bushels  of  wheat  annually — a  large 
portion  of  it  to- China.  Experience  demonstrates  that  we  are  to 
supply  swarming  Asia  with  breadstuff's.  Our  deserts  must  be 
reclaimed  ;  a  Northern  and  a  Southern  railway  must  be  opened 
from  the  Mississippi  to  the  Pacific. 

In  the  fall  of  1868,  San  Francisco  was  disturbed  by  the  se 
verest  earthquake  ever  yet  felt  in  the  United  States.  Four  lives 
were  lost ;  many  buildings  were  shaken  down,  and  the  damage 
was  estimated  as  high  as  five  millions  of  dollars.  At  first  the 
panic  affected  real  estate,  but  it  soon  rallied.  Experience  will 
doubtless  teach  how  to  erect  buildings  that  earthquakes  can 
not  demolish.  At  all  events,  no  moving  accidents  are  likely  to 


580 


THE     HUMORS     OF     AN     EARTHQUAKE.      [1869. 


check  the  metropolis  of  the  Pacific  slope.  The  outlet  for  half 
a  continent — the  great  city  on  a  coast-line  which  crosses  sev 
enty  degrees  of  latitude — looking  in  upon  all  North  America 
and  out  upon  all  Asia,  San  Francisco  has  perhaps  the  most  com 
manding  commercial  position  on  the  globe.  Charles  Wentworth 
Dilke,  the  English  writer,  conjectures  that  in  time  it  may  'take 
rank  as  a  second,  if  not  a  greater,  London.' 

The  first  shock  of  the  recent  earthquake  occurred  early  in  the 
morning.  The  ground  pitched  like  a  ship  in  a  storm.  In  a  few 
seconds  panic-stricken,  half-dressed  people  thronged  the  middle 
of  the  streets,  to  avoid  the  falling  bricks  and  stones.  Some  ran 
for  the  water,  and  embarked  in  the  first  boats  they  could  find. 
The  shock  lasted  only  a  minute  or  two,  but  was  followed 

by  several  others  during  the 
day.  The  inhabitants  were 
thoroughly  alarmed,  and  with 
good  reason ;  but  the  news 
papers  told  many  droll  stories 
even  of  this  lugubrious  occur 
rence.  One  related  that  a  placid 
citizen,  though  implored  by  his 
wife  to  leave  his  bed,  stead 
fastly  refused,  coolly  declaring 
that  there  was  no  more  danger 
in  the^house  than  out  of  doors. 
'  At  last,'  says  the  laconic 
narrator,  '  as  a  final  argument 
she  told  him  that  the  streets 
were  fall  of  women  in  their 
SMITH'S  CHOICE.  night  clothes.  He  rose  with 

alacrity ! ' 

A  Sacramentoan,  in  San  Francisco  on  business,  after  *  assist 
ing  '  at  three  shocks,  telegraphed  to  his  wife : 

'11.40  A.  M.  I  am  all  right  with  the  exception  of  being  bac&y  scared.  I  have 
got  enough  earthquake  to  do  me.  .If  she  holds  together  until  the  boat  leaves,  I  will 
come  home  to-night  I ' 

That  has  the  genuine  local  flavor.  The  intense  high-wrought 
life  of  the  Pacific  Coast  has  produced  a  peculiar  humor,  and 


1869.]    CALIFORNIA     LIFE     AND     LITERATURE.       581 

several  humorists  of  deserved  note,  as  John  Phenix,  Charles  H. 
Webb,  Brett  Hart,  and  Mark  Twain.  In  extravagance  and  gro- 
tesqueness  they  represent  fairly  the  Californian,  who  is  an  exag- 
erated  Yankee — an  American  raised  to  a  higher  power.  John 
Phenix,  for  example,  prefaced  his.  Astronomical  Lectures : 

'These  lectures  were  prepared  to  be  delivered  before  the  Lowell  Institute  of 
Boston,  Massachusetts;  but  owing  to  the  unexpected  circumstance  of  the  author's 
receiving  no  invitation  to  appear  before  that  institution,  they  were  laid  aside  shortly 
after  completion.' 

And  he  thus  hinted  at  the  temperature  of  the  hottest  spot  upon 
our  entire  continent : 

'The  planet  Mercury  *  *  *  receives  six  and  a  half  times  as  much  heat  from 
the  sun  as  we  do,  from  which  we  conclude  that  the  climate  must  be  very  similar  to 
that  of  Fort  Yuma,  on  the  Colorado  River.' 

Another  unknown  genius  quite  outdoes  this.  He  relates  that 
a  soldier  from  Fort  Yuma  died  and  went  to  the  Inferno ;  but 
the  very  first  night  had  to  come  back  and  get  his  blanket ! 

One  more  story  of  the  Pacific  coast.  In  an  interior  town,  as 
it  runs,  dwelt  a  wealthy  miller,  named  Smith — one  of  the  rigidly 
correct,  the  urico  righteous.  A  favorite  brand  of  his  flour  was 
known  as  '  Smith's  Choice.'  Among  the  Indians  who  frequent 
ed  the  little  village  was  an  old  squaw,  peculiarly  filthy  and  hide 
ous.  One  day  she  appeared  in  a  bran  new  white  blanket  beside 
a  waggish  workman  who  was  marking  barrels.  The  stencil  plate 
delighted  her  so,  that  he  applied  it  to  her  back ;  and  for  the  rest 
of  the  day  she  paraded  the  streets,  boldly  labeled  '  Smith's 
Choice,'  while  the  people  shouted  with  laughter  and  indulged 
in  pithy  comments  upon  Smith's  morals  and  his  taste. 

California  literature,  no  less  than  California  humor,  begins  to 
make  a  name  for  itself.  Works  of  value,  both  originals  and 
translations  from  the  Chinese,  are  appearing  from  the  San  Fran 
cisco  press,  and  commanding  wide  recognition.  The  Overland 
Monthly,  too,  in  literary  character,  ranks  second  to  none  of  our 
Eastern  magazines,  and  in  spirit  and  raciness  it  often  excels 
them  all.  The  Golden  State  is  producing  a  new  man,  and,  as 
the  Nevada  editor  phrased  it  to  a  startled  English  tourist,  he 
can  certainly  '  sling  ink.' 


582  FALLING    OFF   IN    THE    COMSTOCK    LODE.  [1869. 


CHAPTER    XLVIII. 


NEVADA,  sterile  as  it  looks,  is  not  without  farming  attractions. 
In  the  scattered,  narrow  valleys,  ranches  multiply.  In  autumn 
the  standing  bunch-grass  is  cured  by  the  frosts,  and  sustains  cattle 
till  the  pods  of  the  white  sage — which  grows  upon  millions  of 
acres — crack  open  and  release  the  seeds.  Upon  these  seeds  they 
fatten,  and  they  prefer  them  to  corn  or  oats. 

Hot  springs  abound  in  the  mountains,  and  are  found  at  almost 
every  station  along  the  railway.  Their  healing  power  has  gained 
high  repute  among  persons  who  suffer  from  rheumatism  or  have 
been  poisoned  by  mineral  fumes  from  amalgamating-pans  in  the 
quartz  mills. 

On  the  great  Comstock  Lode  the  ore  grows  poorer  as  the 
miners  descend.  The  United  States  Commissioner  of  Mining 
estimated  the  yield  for  1868  as  six  millions  of  dollars  'less  than 
that  of  1867.  Some  mills  are  being  removed  to  White  Pine ; 
others  await  the  result  of  work  in  one  central  mine,  where  the 
owners  have  sunk  a  shaft  fourteen  hundred  feet,  and  at  that 
depth  are  'drifting,'  but  thus  far  without  finding  the  ore  in 
satisfactory  quantities.  A  terrible  fire  raged  in  several  of  the 
mines  in  the  spring  of  1869,  consuming  timbers  and  stagings,  and 
suffocating  a  large  number  of  workmen. 

Just  as  the  richest  lode  hitherto  known  begins  to  fail,  a  new 
silver  region  is  creating  the  wildest  excitement  in  our  mining 
history.  The  memories  of  Washoe,  Fraser  River,  and  California 
in  Forty-nine,  all  pale  before  it.  Every  man  on  the  Pacific  coast 
is  talking  of  it;  speculators  and  miners  are  thronging  to  it  from 
every  part  of  the  country,  in  weary  desert  journeys  of  five  hun 
dred  and  a  thousand  miles.  Hundreds  of  new  mining  companies 
based  upon  it  are  forming  in  California,  Nevada,  and  the  Missis- 


1869.]  'ME   LIKE    UM    BEANS!'  583 

sippi  valley;  and  even  New  Yorkers,  who  have  been  bled  a 
dozen  times  over  with  quartz  lancets,  are  fascinated  by  specimens 
of  ore  from  the  new  region,  and  beginning  to  invest  in  *  the  big 
gest  thing  yet ! ' 

This  is  its  history.  In  Nevada,  a  hundred  and  twenty  miles 
east  of  south  from  Elko, — the  nearest  station  on  the  Pacific  Kail- 
road — stands  White  Pine  mountain.  Its  summit,  covered  with 
white-pine  timber,  is  ten  thousand  feet  above  the  sea,  and  the 
general  altitude  of  the  surrounding  valleys  fully  eight  thousand 
feet.  Five  miles  to  the  east  of  it  is  Base  Eange,  where  silver  ores 
are  largely  contaminated  with  base  metals ;  and  eleven  miles  fur 
ther,  Treasure  Hill.  These  three  mountains  run  north  and  south, 
and  are  each  from  six  to  twelve  miles  long. 

'  A  few  months  before  the  period  at  which  our  story  opens , '  a 
party  of  miners  had  erected  a  mill,  called  the  Monte-Christo,  on 
the  western  slope  of  White  Pine ;  and  they  were  working  there 
with  indifferent  success.  Early  one  morning  they  discovered  a 
familiar,  impudent  Indian  thrusting  his  dirty  fingers  into  their 
breakfast-pot  of  baked  beans,  and  scooping  the  food  by  handfuls 
into  his  gaping  mouth.  With  a  few  kicks  and  many  curses,  they 
sent  him  howling  out  of  camp.  He  went,  but  he  returned.  Ke- 
appearing  a  few  days  later,  he  beckoned  one  of  them  aside,  handed 
him  a  piece  of  odd-looking  ore,  and  complacently  sat  down 
grunting : 

4  Um  !     May  be  pooty  good  ! 

It  was  almost  pure  silver.  With  dilating  eyes  the  eager  miner 
asked : 

'  Where  did  you  get  it,  Jim — where  ?  ' 

1  Um  !' '  muttered  the  now  indifferent  visitor.  '  Me  heap  hun 
gry  1  Me  like  urn  beans  ! ' 

No  kicking  out  this  time  !  Jim  was  treated  to  his  fill  of  the 
best  the  camp  afforded.  Then  he  led  the  white  man  to  Treasure 
Hill,  and  there,  in  September,  1867,  the  first  mine,  the  Hidden 
Treasure,  was  located.  The  Eberhardt,  the  richest  and  most 
famous,  was  staked  a  few  weeks  later.  The  deposit  of  ore  was 
an  Aladdin's  palace.  Nothing  like  it  had  ever  been  known. 
One  lad  struck  his  pick  into  what  looked  like  a  mass  of  putty, 
but  proved  to  be  pure  chloride  of  silver,  worth  twenty  thousand 


584  EAKLY     DAYS     OF     WHITE     PINE.  [1869. 

dollars  a  ton.  Some  ore  was  so  rich  that  when  taken  to  a  quartz 
mill  it  clogged  the  stamps  until  they  could  do  nothing  with  it. 
The  silver  was  found  in  'pockets,'  or  masses  like  coal,  not  in 
quartz  veins ;  and  in  a  limestone  instead  of  a  granite  formation. 

The  fortunate  discoverers,  working  silently  and  shrewdly,  kept 
the  secret  well  for  months,  while  they  uncovered  and  extracted 
enormous  sums.  They  induced  a  Captain  Page  to  bring  a  ten- 
stamp  mill  from  Austin.  When  it  was  set  up  on  the  new  ground, 
it  had  cost  Page  about  thirty  thousand  dollars.  At  first  he  began 
to  burn  bricks  for  furnaces,  but  a  little  experimenting  proved  that 
these  ores  required  no  roasting. 

The  mill  started.  The  miners  soon  found  that  under  their 
contract  with  Page,  the  ores  were  yielding  him  a  profit  of  two 
hundred  and  thirty-five  dollars  a  ton  !  After  he  had  run  the  mill 
for  seven  days,  they  gladly  bought  it  of  him  for  ninety  thousand 
dollars.  Many  more  mills  have  since  been  set  up  in  the  district. 
The  ores  have  assayed  from  one  thousand  to  twenty  thousand 
dollars  per  ton ;  and  when  crushed  in  large  quantities,  the  average 
yields  have  ranged  from  three  hundred  to  one  thousand  dollars. 

'  White  Pine,'  became  the  general  name  for  the  entire  region. 
Ten  thousand  immigrants  spent  the  winter  of  1868-9  in  it.  Some 
had  arrived  on  foot,  some  with  teams,  and  some  in  the  half-dozen 
coaches  that  started  every  morning  from  Austin,  carrying  twenty 
passengers  apiece.  Treasure  City,  Sherman,  Hamilton,  and  other 
towns  sprang  up,  swarming  with  people  who  dwelt  in  tents,  in 
caves  in  the  ground,  in  log  huts,  and  in  frame  cabins. 

Forest  trees  were  abundant,  but  saw-mills  scarce;  lumber  went 
up  to  five  hundred  dollars -a  thousand,  and  it  became  a  common 
jest  that  one  could  carry  away  ten  dollars'  worth  in  his  waistcoat 
pocket.  Board  commanded  twenty  dollars  a  week  ;  laborers  and 
mechanics,  from  five  to  ten  dollars  a  day ;  and  hay,  three  hun 
dred  dollars  a  ton.  Three  months  before,  building  lots  would 
not  have  brought  fifty  cents  a  dozen;  now  they  sold  at  from 
five  hundred  to  eight  thousand  dollars  apiece.  One  plot  of 
ground,  purchased  for  forty-five  hundred  dollars,  was  disposed 
of  twenty-two  days  later  for  twenty-five  thousand.  In  silver 
claims  the  speculation  was  still  wilder.  Many  an  old  miner,  who 
reached  the  region  without  money  enough  to  pay  two  weeks' 


1869.]        TWO     STORIES     OF     SILVER     MINES.  585 

board,  soon  had  property  which  he  could  have  sold  for  a  hundred 
thousand  dollars  or  more.  And  many  another  who  carried  in 
thousands  with  him,  paid  it  all  away  in  less  than  a  week  for 
claims  as  worthless  as  Sahara. 

Before  the  richness  of  the  region  was  known,  a  Nevada  lawyer 
was  offered  two  hundred  feet  in  one  mine  for  twenty-five  dollars. 
He  had  risked  thousands  of  dollars  upon  '  prospects  '  before,  and 
invariably  at  a  loss  ;  and  now,  yielding  to  prudence  for  the  first 
time  in  his  life,  he  declined  to  purchase.  Three  months  later  he 
visited  the  district.  A  boy  working  in  the  mine  he  had  refused 
gave  him  a  piece  of  ore  worth  three  hundred  dollars  ;  while  the 
owner  of  the  claim  offered  him- five  thousand  dollars  to  spend  a 
single  week  in  arguing  an  injunction  suit  concerning  it  before  one 
of  the  mining  courts.  He  vowed  that  he  would  never  be  pru 
dent  again,  however  great  the  temptation. 

A  quiet  visitor  to  the  Eberhardt  mine,  after  looking  carefully 
through  it,  announced  that  he  represented  one  of  the  wealthiest 
banks  on  the  coast,  and  was  authorized  to  purchase  it.  The 
owners,  who  had  been  poor  men  a  few  months  before,  replied : 

'  The  Bank  of  California  hasn't  got  money  enough  to  buy  this 
mine.  But  come  around  next  fall,  and  we  will  buy  the  Bank  of 
California !' 

At  the  present  rate  it  will  not  be  many  months  before  the 
region  has  a  population  of  fifty  thousand.  There  will  be  the 
usual  preposterous  inflation  and  reckless  investments,  and  then 
the  usual  reaction,  bringing  things  to  their  proper  level.  The 
lesson  of  quartz  mining,  like  other  lessons  of  life,  can  not  be  ac 
quired  by  proxy  :  every  generation  must  learn  it  for  itself,  eveiy 
man  for  himself. 

New  Mexico  begins  to  feel  some  mining  excitements  ;  yet  with 
its  inefficient  Mexican  population  it  makes  little  progress.  Dur 
ing  the  summer  of  1868,  General  William  J.  Palmer,  ot  the 
Kansas  Pacific  Kailroad,  made  an  interesting  survey  through  to 
the  Pacific,  along  the  thirty-fifth  parallel.  West  of  Albuquerque 
his  party  found  the  Zuni  Indians,  already  described  on  pages  254 
and  266.  The  group  in  our  illustration  was  sketched  by  the 
artist  of  the  expedition.  The  Zunis  preserve  the  old  Aztec  faith 
pure  and  simple,  and  have  not  a  single  Catholic  priest  in  their 


586 


MORE     OF     THE     WHITE     INDIA  X  S . 


[1869. 


village.  They  raise  fruit,  corn,  and  sheep,  in  abundance,  and 
under  their  sad  faces,  hide  a  fondness  for  barter  and  a  shrewdness 
in  it,  quite  unmatched  among  any  other  tribe.  They  sold 
grapes  and  mutton  to  the  exploring  party,  but  only  at  high  prices 
and  after  hours  of  dickering.  Education  and  a  favorable  geo 
graphical  position  would  soon  develop  them  into  a  great  com 
mercial  people. 


A    GROUP  OP  ZUNI    INDIANS. 

Palmer  saw  one  of  their  white  Indians.  He  had  red  hair,  blue 
eyes,  and  a  complexion  fair  even  for  a  white  man.  He  showed 
none  of  that  preternatural  paleness  of  the  eye,  feebleness,  and  ap 
pearance  of  being  a  freak  of  nature,  generally  observed  in 
Albinos  ;  but  seemed  to  be  a  strong,  normal  man.  From  gener 
ation  to  generation  these  white  Zunians  have  white  children — 
giving  some  color  to  a  local  tradition,  that  they  sprang  originally 
from  a  Welch  man  who  lived  for  a  while  with  the  tribe.  Why 
do  not  our  scientific  men  study  more  this  strange  people,  the  traces 


1869.]        A     NATIONAL     SCHOOL     OF     MINES.  587 

of  the  Mound  Builders  of  the  Mississippi  valley,  and  kindred 
subjects,  which,  treated  intelligently  and  intelligibly,  would  have 
an  absorbing  popular  interest  ? 

One  evening  Palmer's  company  were  led  by  an  Indian  trail 
down  the  side  of  a  tremendous  gorge,  eight  hundred  feet  deep. 
Two  of  the  pack-mules,  missing  their  foot-holds  on  the  narrow 
shelf-path,  tumbled  off,  and  rolled  to  the  bottom,  bounding  from 
rock  to  rock  like  foot-balls.  One  was  killed ;  the  other,  despite 
his  fall  of  three  hundred  feet,  was  not  seriously  hurt.  The  ex 
plorers  named  the  chasm,  Pack-mule  Canyon. 

The  product  of  Nevada,  Arizona,  and  New  Mexico,  shown  be 
low,  is  nearly  all  silver,  that'  of  Idaho  one-third  silver,  and  that  of 
Colorado  one-eighth  silver ;  all  the  rest  is  gold.  The  estimates 
in  the  first  column  are  by  Kossiter  W.  Eaymond,  Commissioner 
of  Mining;  those  in  the  second  are  my  own,  as  given  in  the 
American  Year  Book  for  1869  : 

OUR    GOLD   AND   SILVER   PRODUCT   FOR    1868. 

California $22,000,000         $23,000,000 

Nevada : 14,000.000         18,000,000 

Montana 15,000,000         13,000,000 

Idaho 7,000,000         7,000,000 

"Washington  and  Oregon 4,000,000  ....  6,000,000 

Colorado  and  Wyoming 3,250,000         4,000,000 

Arizona 500,000         250,000 

New  Mexico 250,000         250,000 

Other  sources 1,000,000         


Total $67,000,000         $71,500,000 

Some  writers  rate  our  product  as  high  as  one  hundred  and 
eight  millions.  Our  great  need  is  a  National  School  of  Mines. 
At  present  our  own  mining  engineers  are  educated  in  Germany, 
not  in  America  ;  and  throughout  our  quartz  regions  the  practical 
miners  despise  the  geologists  and  mineralogists,  and  vice  versa — 
often  with  good  reason  upon  both  sides.  "With  a  School  of 
Mines  right  among  the  miners  themselves,  theories  would  be 
modified  by  practical  experience,  and  the  men  with  the  picks  and 
the  men  with  the  retorts  would  deserve  and  receive  respect  from 
each  other.  Our  bullion  yield  would  be  enormously  increased, 


588       KANSAS     AND     MISSOURI     ADVANCING.    [1869. 

and  every  year  millions  of  dollars  would  be  saved  that  are  now 
wasted  in  fruitless  mining. 

Kansas  advances  with  gigantic  strides.  Already  she  has  ten 
daily  and  fifty  weekly  newspapers,  over  six  hundred  miles  of 
completed  railway,  and  a  population  of  almost  half  a  million. 
Thirteen  years  after  her  first  settlement  by  whites,  her  values  in 
three  items  alone  were : 

Farms  and  farming  implements $40,000,000 

Live  stock 40,000,000 

Crops  for  1867 35,000,000 

Total $115,000,000 

These  young  States — how  unexpectedly  they  spring  up,  how 
wonderfully  they  grow !  To  have  seen  personally  something  of 
the  beginning  of  four— Kansas,  Colorado,  Montana,  and  Wyo 
ming — makes  one  feel  prematurely  old,  and  wonder  what  the 
development  of  half  a  century  will  be. 

Kansas  City  (Missouri)  now  bids  fair  to  be  a  great  metropolis. 
She  has  secured  a  bridge  across  the  Missouri,  and  four  or  five 
new  railway  connections ;  and  in  modern  towns  the  iron  horse  is 
mighty  and  must  prevail. 

The  highest  courts  have  practically  decided  that  the  steamboat 
is  subordinate  to  the  locomotive  ;  that  railway  travel  must  be  un 
impeded,  though  at  some  expense  to  navigation.  Already  the 
'  Great  Yellow  Eiver '  is  being  bridged  for  railways  at  Kansas 
City,  at  St.  Charles,  Missouri,  and  at  Omaha.  The  enormous 
works  will  cost  from  one  to  two  millions  of  dollars  apiece. 
The  two  farthest  up  the  river  are  practically  in  the  interest  of 
wide-awake  Chicago,  securing  to  her  a  traffic  which  naturally 
belongs  to  St.  Louis.  St.  Louis  is  rousing  herself ;  but  a  good 
many  slow  coaches — relics  of  slaveholding  influence  and  French 
origin — still  retard  her.  There  was  point  and  wit  in  that 
visitor,  who,  being  asked  what  the  city  most  needed  to  promote 
its  prosperity,  replied,  'About  thirty -five  first-class  funerals.' 

Since  1865,  Missouri  has  paid  twenty-three  millions  of  dollars 
principal  and  interest,  upon  her  State  debt.  Since  1860,  her  as 
sessed  values — exclusive  of  slaves — have  increased  from  two  hun 
dred  and  seventy  millions  of  dollars  to  five  hundred  millions— a 


1869.]     INDIAN     TERRITORY     TO     BEi    OPENED.       589 

wonderful    progress   for  eight  years,  four  of  them  darkened  by 
bloody  and  devastating  war. 

Fourteen  hundred  miles  of  railway  are  already  in  operation. 
The  Southwest  Road  to  the  Lead  Eegion,  after  twice  reverting 
to  the  State,  which  had  loaned  the  public  credit  largely  for 
its  construction,  is  now  in  the  hands  of  Francis  B.  Hayes,  Jacob 
Sleeper,  Clinton  B.  Fisk,  and  a  few  other  live  capitalists,  who, 
on  depositing  seventeen  hundred  thousand  dollars  as  security  that 
they  meant  business  and  would  build  the-  road,  received  a  free 
gift  of  the  hundred  miles  of  railway  already  in  operation,  with  its 
equipment,  and  its  magnificent  land  grant  of  more  than  a  million 
acres — worth  enough  to  finish  the  entire  line.  They  now  have 
twenty-five  hundred  men  working:  upon  it  and  will,  complete  it 
within  a  few  months.  Ultimately  it  will  be  a  chief  eastern  out 
let  for  the  Southern  Pacific  road. 

The  Indian  Territory  must  soon  open  to  white  settlers.  Three 
railways  are  already  advancing  toward  it — the  one  just  described  ; 
a  second  running  south  from  Kansas  City,  via  Olathe,  Spring 
Hill,  and  Fort  Scott ;  and  a  third  leading  south  from  Lawrence. 
Whenever  immigration  pours  into  -this  rich  and  beautiful  region 
the  Indians  will  readily  merge  into>  the  white  communities. 

The  history  of  the  Cherokees  has- one;  very  remarkable  charac 
ter.  His  Indian  name  was  Sequoyah;-  He  was  born  in  northern 
Georgia  in  1769 — long  before  the -tribe  was  removed  beyond  the 
Mississippi.  His  father  was  a  wandering  German  peddler  named 
Guest ;  his  mother  an  untaught  Cherokee  woman,  whom  the 
peddler  married  and  soon  after  abandoned.  But  she  possessed 
great  purity  and  vigor  of  character,  and  devoted  her  life  to  rear 
ing  her  son.  Neither  he  nor  she  could  speak  English,  or  even 
German. 

Young  Guest  showed  much  mechanical  aptitude.  He  became 
an  expert  blacksmith,  having  taught  himself  and  made  his  own 
tools  and  bellows.  He  also  learned  the  silversmith's  art.  Wish 
ing  to  make  a  steel  die  for  stamping  silver  ware,  he  got  a  white 
man  to  write  his  name.  The  stranger  spelled  it  George  Guess, 
and  as  Sequoyah  did  not  learn  English  till  several  years  later,  the 
accidentally-appropriate  surname,  gained  by  a  blunder,  adhered  to 
him  through  life,  and  in  the  biographical  dictionaries. 
38 


590     SEQUOYAH     AND     THE  'TALKING     LEAF.'    [1869. 

The  Cherokees  had  no  written  language.  One  day  several, 
noticing  a  white  prisoner  in  the  act  of  reading  a  letter,  raised  the 
question  whether  the  '  talking  leaf '  was  a  special  gift  from  the 
Great  Spirit,  or  a  mere  human  invention.  Sequoyah,  though 


SEQUOYAH  (GEORGE  GUEST),  INVENTOR  OP  THE  CHEROKEE  ALPHABET. 

scouting  the  suggestion  that  it  was  miraculous,  grew  interested  in 
the  subject.  A  lameness  caused  by  a  white-swelling  kept  him 
from  active  pursuits,  and  for  three  years  he  laboriously  collected 
the  words  of  the  Cherokee  language,  and  designated  symbols  to 
represent  them,  from  birds,  beasts,  and  trees.  He  had  neither 
pens  nor  paper,  but  wrote  upon  bark  with  nails  or  sharp  wire. 
At  last  the  hopelessness  of  his  task  and  a  glimpse  of  the  only 
practicable  mode  dawned  upon  him.  He  did  not  know  a  word 


1869.]     THE     INVENTION     OF     AN     ALPHABET.         591 

of  any  language  but  his  own.  He  had  no  help  from  the  accumu 
lated  experience  of  other  races  and  other  men  of  genius.  But, 
alone  in  the  wilderness,  this  untutored  half-breed  discovered  the 
great  principle  which  it  had  taken  accomplished  nations  many 
centuries  to  ascertain,  and  which  other  accomplished  nations  never 
ascertained — that  arbitrary  signs  must  stand  not  for  ideas,  but  for 
sounds. 

With  the  help  of  his  wife,  his  own  ear  not  being  acute,  he 
found  the  vowel  sounds  of  the  Cherokee  language  to  be  nine. 
These  he  multiplied  by  the  consonant  sounds.  At  first  the  re 
sulting  combinations  or  syllables  numbered  nearly  two  hundred, 
but  he  pruned  them  down  to  eighty-five.  By  this  time  an  old 
English  spelling-book  nad  fallen  into  his  hands.  He  adopted,  at 
random,  many  of  its  letters,  and  invented  new  characters  to  fill 
out  his  list ;  and  thus  he  formed  a  complete  syllabic  alphabet 

At  first  his  fellows  were  utterly  incredulous.  But  he  had  taught 
the  system  to  his  little  daughter,  and  now  he  sent  her  away  and  wrote 
to  her  such  messages  as  they  dictated.  When  she  easily  read  them, 
the  stoutest  braves  were  awe- stricken,  and  fancied  that  it  must  be 
necromancy.  For  a  further  test,  he  taught  several  of  their  young 
men  his  mysterious  art.  Then  they  confessed  his  triumph,  gave 
him  a  great  feast,  and  held  him  in  high  honor  and  veneration. 
They  adopted  the  written  language  and  have  used  it  ever  since.~~ 
In  their  eyes,  its  most  wonderful  triumph  was  that  it  enabled 
them  to  send  long  messages  back  to  the  remnant  of  their  tribe 
which  still  remained  in  Georgia.  Eeally,  Sequoyah's  great 
achievement  was  his  success  in  mastering  the  natural  philosophy 
of  his  mother  tongue.  An  Indian  child  who  speaks  English  can 
not  often  learn  to  read  it  in  less  than  a  year,  but  will  learn  to  read 
by  Sequoyah's  alphabet  in  a  few  days. 

Once  Sequoyah  was  a  delegate  from  his  tribe  to  Washington. 
There  the  portrait  was  painted  from  which  our  likeness  is  copied. 
He  himself  learned  to  paint  portraits  with  success,  and  acquired 
some  knowledge  of  perspective.  Late  in  life  he  determined  to 
write  a  philosophic  work  upon  all  the  Indian  languages,  and  to 
point  out  clearly  their  resemblances  and  differences.  For  this 
purpose  he  traveled  among  many  tribes,  taking  copious  notes. 
His  only  companion  was  a  young  Cherokee ;  the  two  journeyed 


592 


UNCLE     SAM     IS     EICH     ENOUGH 


[1869. 


together  with  an  ox-cart,  camping  out  whenever  night  overtook 
them.  They  visited  many  of  the  Plains  Indians,  and  the  Root 
Diggers  of  the  Eocky  Mountains  :  and  were  among  the  Pueblos 
of  New  Mexico,  when,  in  August,  1843,  Death  overtook  this 
modern  Cadmus,  this  Admirable  Crichton  of  the  wilderness. 

Every  year  the  Cherokee  Legislature  appropriates  three  hun 
dred  dollars  to  the  support  of  his  widow — the  only  literary  pension 
paid  by  any  government  upon  our  continent.  During  the  Great 
Rebellion,  one  of  his  sons  served  with  honor  as  a  lieutenant  under 
Colonel  William  A.  Philips,  of  Kansas,  who  commanded  the 
Union  forces  in  the  Indian  Territory. 

The  population  tables  below  include  civilized  Indians,  but  omit 
the  wild  tribes.  Nearly  all  the  figures  are  from  official,  or  semi 
official;  sources. 


STATE  OR  TERRITORY. 

Population. 

Area  in  acres. 

Acres    of   public 
lands      unsold, 
June  30,  1863. 

1860. 

1869. 

Alaska 

6,000 
10,000 
500,000 
600,000 
55,000 
10,000 
25,000 
66,000 
1,000,000 
440,000 
440,000 
1,500,000 
33,875 
.    100,000 
40,000 
140,000 
100,000 
120,000 
20,000 
1,000,000 
20,000 

369,529,600 
72,906,240 
33,406,720 
120,947,840 
66,880,000 
96,596,128 
55,228,160 
44;  154,240 
35,228,800 
52,043,520 
53,459,840 
41,824,000 
92.016,640 
48^636,800 
71,737,600 
77,568,840 
60,975,360 
54,065,043 
44,796,160 
34.511.360 
62i645|068 

369,529,600 
68,855,890 
11,574,430 
104,538,420 
62,814,254 
90,986,449 
52,150,806 
44,154,240 
2,902,528 
42,795.589 
35,534,118 
1,483,715 
86,904,569 
41.624,126 
67,085,697 
70,705,518 
52,518,014 
48,976,310 
41,565,717 
9,258,627 
59,164,787 

Arkansas  

435,450 
379,994 
34,277 
4,837 

California  

Colorado      .  .      .          ... 

Dacotah  

Idaho 

Indian  Territory  

66,000 
074,913 
107,206 
172,023 
1,182,012 

Kansas 

Minnesota   

Montana        ... 

Nebraska  

28,841 
6,857 
93,516 
52,465 
40,273 
11,594 
775,881 

Nftvada 

New  Mexico   

Oregon 

Utah              

Washington  Territory 

"Wisconsin                     .      .      . 

"Wyoming  

Once  it  was  proposed  to  name  our  country  Alleghania,  from 
the  mountains  which  skirt  its  eastern  border,  but  which 
were  then  its  western  frontier.  ~Now,  fourteen  hundred  millions 
of  acres  of  our  public  lands  remain  unsold,  though  the  tracts 
given  and  pledged  to  Pacific  railways  alone  probably  amount  to 


1869.] 


TO     GIVE     US     ALL     A 


593 


a  solid  belt  seventeen  hundred  miles  long  and  forty  miles  wide. 
•  These  magnificent  and  remunerative  endowments  are  in  keeping 
with  our  territorial  area.  They,  and  the  national  gift,  the  Home 
stead  Act,  kindled  Walt  Whitman — the  most  American  and  the 
most  original  of  all  our  poets,  in  his  apostrophe  to  the  great  re 
public  : 

'  Dispensatress,  that  by  a  word  givest  a  thousand  miles — that  giv'st  a  miUion  farms 
and  missest  nothing  ! 

Thou  All- Acceptress ! — thou  Hospitable! — thou  only  art  hospitable  as  God  is  hos 
pitable.1' 

Welcome  to  the  continental  railway !     Farewell  to  the  over 
land  coach  and  to  the  log  ranch,  so  lately  the  first-class  hotel  of  the 


FIRST-CLASS  HOTEL  ON  THE  PLAINS  IN    18G7. 

Plains !     They  linger  only  in  memory ;  they  belong  as  really  to 
the  dead  past  as  horse-hair  wigs  and  three-cornered  hats. 

Exit  Red  Man!  Enter  Yellow  Man!  The  United  States 
already  hold  a  hundred  thousand  Chinamen.  Only  three  hun 
dred  of  them  live  in  New  York,  and  they  make  execrable  cigars 
and  retail  them  in  the  streets.  They  do  not  wear  their 
native  costume,  and  they  sedulously  hide  their  long  cues  in  their 
hats,  for  the  Bad  Boy  of  New  York  will  throw  stones  at  every 
bold  Mongol  who  ventures  forth  in  tunic  and  pig-tail.  Only 


594  A     MAN     THAT     CAN     WAIT.  [1869. 

three  or  four  have  Chinese  wives  ;  but  many  have  wedded  Celtic 
women,  and — insatiate  Johnny  ! — more  than  one  apiece  at  that. 
Sometimes  the  wives  quarrel,  but  Johnny  placidly  permits  them 
to  fight  it  out  in  the  yard.  These  unions  produce  bright,  healthy 
children,  who  toddle  about,  prattling  in  Chinese  to  their  fathers, 
and  in  Irish  or  English  to  their  mothers. 

On  the  Pacific  coast  the  Celestials  multiply.  In  California 
alone  they  number  sixty  thousand,  and  a  single  mail  steamer 
from  Hong  Kong  often  brings  a  thousand  of  them.  They  begin 
to  flow  over  into  Colorado  and  Montana,  and  some  even  into  East 
Tennessee,  where  they  purpose  to  cultivate  the  tea  plant.  They 
will  soon  pour  into  every  State  upon  the  Atlantic  slope.  They 
will  solve  the  great  problem  of  'help  '  that  vexes  the  souls  of 
American  housekeepers,  and  in  time  they  may  throng  into  every 
other  department  of  labor. 

Hiram  Walbridge,  on  receiving  one  day  the  card  of  an  unwel 
come  visitor,  sent  word  that  he  was  engaged  and  could  not  see 
him  for  the  present.  The  bore  replied  that  he  was  in  no  haste, 
and  could  wait  just  as  well  as  not. 

' these  men  who  can  wait ! '  exclaimed  the  veteran  poli 
tician,  'I'm  afraid  of  them  !  Show  him  up  at  once/ 

John  Chinaman  is  a  man  that  'can  wait.'  He  is  patience  em 
bodied.  And  there  are  a  great  many  of  him  !  He  constitutes 
two-thirds  of  the  whole  human  race.  His  empire  could  send  us 
as  many  immigrants  as  the  total  population  of  the  United  States, 
Great  Britain,  and  France,  and  yet  not  spare  us  so  large  a  per 
centage  as  Ireland  has  within  the  last  ten  years.  Will  this  Com 
ing  Man — persistent,  eager-eyed,  stolid-faced — Americanize  ?  The 
future  has  no  question  more  vital  to  us ;  and  the  future  alone 
can  answer  it. 

The  great  railway  which  is  attracting  the  Yellow  Man  hither  dis 
places  all  the  old  landmarks.  In  lieu  of  the  log  hut  with  dirt 
roof,  it  gives  us  a  first-class  hotel  of  the  most  drearily  modern 
pretensions  and  proportions — an  enormous  building  with  the  iron 
pathway  in  front,  and  a  huge  windmill  hard  by  to  pump  up 
water  for  the  thirsty  locomotive. 

Many  fascinating  volumes  might  be  written  upon  early  explo 
rations  across  our  continent.  The  first  and  most  remarkable  was 


1869.] 


EIGHT     YEARS     OF     WANDERINGS. 


595 


led  by  Cabeca  de  Yaca,  a  Spanish  gentleman,  with  a  few  compan 
ions,  sole  survivors  of  the  expedition  of  Narvaez,  which  had 
come  to  Florida  with  five  ships  and  six  hundred  men.  In  the 
fall  of  1528,  after  all  their  comrades  had  perished,  De  Yaca  and 


FIRST   CLASS  HOTEL  ON   THE  PLAINS   IN   1869. 

his  little  party  started  westward  from  near  the  mouth  of  the  Mis 
sissippi.  They  encountered  terrible  hardships,  being  often  de 
tained  by  hostile  Indiansr  and  once  suffering  so  from  hunger  that 
they  killed  and  ate  one  of  their  own  number.  They  crossed 
what  are  now  Louisiana,  Texas,  New  Mexico,  and  Arizona,  and 
finally,  after  eight  years  of  wandering,  four  of  the  party,  naked, 
wounded,  and  half  dead,  reached  the  Pacific  in  Lower  California. 
Their  wonderful  story  is  found  only  in  the  rare  records  of  old 
voyagers ;  what  new  Prescott,  or  Irving,  or  Motley  will  re-tell  it 
for  us  ? 

Two  hundred  and  thirty  years  later,  Jonathan  Carver  of  Con 
necticut,  who  as  an  officer  in  the  King's  service  had  taken  part 
in  ail  the  wars  by  which  the  Canadas  fell  into  the  possession  of 


596         JONATHAN   CARVER'S   PROPHECY.      [1869. 

Great  Britain,  started  westward  from  Boston.  He  journeyed 
slowly,  via  Albany,  Lake  Michigan,  and  Green  Bay,  to  the  '  Ouis- 
consin '  river ;  and  afterward  to  western  Minnesota  or  Dacotah. 
Unable  to  go  farther,  he  came  back  and  visited  London,  where 
he  sought  aid  from  the  British  Government  to  prosecute  his  ex 
plorations  through  to  the  Pacific.  But  after  long  delay  that  was 
denied,  and  even  his  papers,  which  the  authorities  had  taken,  were 
not  returned.  From  copies  in  his  possession,  however,  he  pub 
lished  in  London,  in  1778,  an  interesting  account  of  his  travels. 
His  preface  is  full  of  prophecy  and  pathos.  After  urging  the 
establishment  of  posts  and  settlements  as  likely  to  '  open  com 
munication  between  Hudson's  Bay  and  the  Pacific,'  it  contin 
ues: 

*A  settlement  on  the  Pacific  would  not  only  disclose  new  sources  of  trade  and 
promote  many  useful  discoveries,  but  would  open  a  passage  for  conveying  intelli 
gence  to  China  and  the  English  settlements  in  the  East  Indies,  with  greater  expedi 
tion  than  a  tedious  voyage  by  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  or  the  Straits  of  Magellan 
will  allow  of.  *  *  *  Tha*;  the  completion  of  the  scheme  I  have  had  the  honor 
of  first  planning  and  attempting,  will  some  time  or  other  be  effected,  I  make  no 
doubt.  *  *  *  Whenever  it  is,  and  the  execution  of  it  is  carried  on  with 
propriety,  those  who  are  so  fortunate  as  to  succeed  will  reap,  exclusive  of  the  na 
tional  advantages  that  must  ensue,  emoluments  beyond  their  most  sanguine  expectations. 
And  whilst  their  spirits  are  elated  by  their  success,  perhaps  they  may  bestow  some 
commendation  and  blessings  on  the  person  that  first  pointed  out  to  them  the  way.  *  * 
Mighty  kingdoms  will  emerge  from  these  wildernesses,  and  stately  palaces  and  sol 
emn  temples  with  gilded  spires  supplant  the  Indian  huts,  whose  only  decorations 
are  the  barbarous  trophies  of  their  vanquished  enemies.' 

After  Carver,  came  our  Government  expeditions — those  of 
Pike  and  Long,  for  whom  two  noble  mountains  in  Colorado  are 
fitly  named ;  that  of  Lewis  and  Clark,  elsewhere  described  in 
these  pages ;  that  6f  Bonneville,  in  1832,  the  first  that  ever 
crossed  to  the  Pacific  with  wagons ;  and  those  of  Fremont,  who 
named  Utah  the  *  Great  Basin,'  and  who  did  more  than  any 
other  one  man  to  kindle  interest  in  the  western  half  of  our  con 
tinent,  and  to  hasten  its  development. 


1869.J  NEW   YEAR'S   DAY   AT   FORT   BENTOX.      597 


CHAPTER    XLIX. 


THOSE  remorseless  levelers,  the  railroad  and  the  telegraph, 
tread  so  closely  upon  the  heels  of  the  pioneer  that  new  settle 
ments  have  no  longer  the  picturesque  coloring,  the  strong  local 
peculiarities  of  half  a  century  ago.  Each  individual,  each  com 
munity  grows  more  and  more  like  all  the  rest.  Perhaps  when 
Alaska  is  cut  up  into  half  a  dozen  States,  with  gas,  hot  and  cold 
water,  and  a  private  telegraph  wire  introduced  into  every  dwell 
ing,  provincialisms  will  disappear  altogether,  and  local  nicknames 
become  utterly  obsolete. 

As  yet,  a  few  remote  localities  retain  the  old  features.  Fort 
Benton,  Montana,  is  one.  The  French  trappers  and  traders  of 
the  American  Fur  Company  have  passed  away,  but  many  left 
Indian  wives  and  half-breed  children ;  and  some  whites  of  the 
present  generation  have  also  intermarried  with  Indians.  The 
aboriginal  women  retain  their  ancient  habit  of  Platonic  kissing 
once  every  twelvemonth.  On  New  Year's  day  they  perambulate 
the  settlement  by  twos,  by  tens,  and  by  twenties,  visiting  each 
house  and  store,  and  kissing  every  white  man  they  can  find.  The 
holiday  closes  with  a  '  squaw  ball,'  at  which  pies  eaten  from  the 
fingers,  and  ice  water  drank  from  a  tin  dipper,  constitute  the 
refreshments. 

In  spite  of  all  leveling  influences,  the  man  of  the  Far  "West 
will  long  retain  his  intensity,  his  hearty  friendships,  and  his 
equally  hearty  enmities.  Let  us  hope,  too,  that  he  will  retain 
his  quick  perception  of  the  ludicrous,  his  readiness  to  laugh  at 
everybody's  weak  points,  including  his  own.  '  Gentlemen,'  said 
a  frontier  candidate  for  Congress  at  the  close  of  a  public  speech, 
1  these  are  my  sentiments.  They  are  the  sentiments  of  an  honest 


598 


EARLY     WESTERN     NICKNAMES. 


[1869. 


man,  the  principles  of  a  consistent  politician.    But,  gentlemen,  if 
they  don't  suit  you,  they  can  be  altered  ! " 

Early  Southern  and  Western  nicknames  will  puzzle  the  anti 
quarian  of  the  year  of  grace  2969.  The  North  Carolinians  were 
'  Tar-heels,'  from  the  abundance  of  tar  which  their  State  pro 
duced  ;  the  people  of  Michigan,  '  Wolverines,'  from  their  prairie 
wolves ;  and  those  of  Wisconsin,  '  Badgers,'  from  the  animal 
most  common  in  their  new  settlements.  *  Hoosier '  has  received 
two  explanations.  According  to  one,  pioneer  Indianians  had 
huge  frames,  and  were  so  formidable  in  fights  that  they  became 
known  as  '  hushers ; '  and  this,  at  first  in  jest,  was  transformed 
into  'Hoosiers.'  The  other  relates  that  the  name  was  applied 
to  ridicule  the  common  inquiry  of  the  backwoodsman,  when  he 
heard  a  knock  on  his  door  at  night,  '  Who's  yer  ?  ' 

'  Sucker '  likewise  has  several  theories  of  its  origin.  One  is 
that  every  spring  thousands  of  Illinoians  went  up  the  Mississippi 

by  steamers,  worked  in 
the  Galena  lead  mines 
through  the  summer, 
and  returned  home  in 
the  fall.  Ascending 
and  descending  the 
river  like  fishes,  they 
were  called  '  Suckers.' 
Another  is,  that  as  they 
were  poor  whites  from 
Virginia  and  Ken 
tucky,  who  had  torn 
themselves  away  from 
the  wealthy  slave 
owners,  satirists  pre 
dicted  that  they  would 
perish  like' sprouts,  or 
suckers,  of  the  tobacco  plant,  stripped  from  the  parent  stem. 
Still  a  third  relates  that  in  crossing  the  dry  prairies-  they  used 
to  carry  a  hollow  reed,  and  when  thirsty  thrust  it  into  holes  in 
the  ground  made  by  crawfish  in  their  descent  to>  the  water,  and 
thus  suck  up  the  liquid.  Let  me  suggest  a  fourtih..  The  earliest 


A    YOUNG   SUCKER. 


1869.]    ORIGIN     OF     THE     PACIFIC     RAILWAY.          599 

white  settlers  of  the  Mississippi  valley  were  Frenchmen,  who 
adopted  many  Indian  habits.  They  strapped  their  infants  to 
boards  like  papooses.  The  mother,  working  in  the  fields,  often 
left  her  baby  alone  in  the  cabin  for  hours ;  but,  to  alleviate  his 
solitude,  she  gave  him  a  huge  piece  of  raw  pork  to  suck,  first 
tying  it  to  his  foot  by  a  string,  so  that  whenever  he  attempted  to 
swallow  it  the  natural  impulse  to  kick  would  save  hi rn  from 
choking.  The  custom  is  well  authenticated.  What  more  natural 
than  that  those  who  followed  it  should  have  been  nicknamed 
'Suckers?' 

Who  first  suggested  a  Pacific  Kail  way?  In  1778,  Jonathan 
Carver  foreshadowed  it,  and  he  of  all  men  was  farthest  ahead  of 
the  age  in  which  he  lived.  In  1835  the  Eev.  Samuel  Parker,  in 
his  journal  of  an  overland  trip  across  the  continent,  recorded  his 
opinion  that  the  mountains  presented  no  insuperable  obstacle  to 
a  railroad.  In  1838,  Lewis  Gaylord  Clark  wrote  in  the  Knicker 
bocker  :  '  The  reader  is  now  living  who  will  make  a  railway  trip 
across  this  vast  continent.'  In  1846,  Asa  Whitney  began  to  urge 
his  project  upon  State  legislatures  and  popular  gatherings,  and  he 
continued  to  agitate  the  subject  for  five  years.  He  proposed  to 
build  a  line  from  the  Mississippi  to  Puget  Sound  (California 
was  not  yet  settled  by  whites)  if  Congress  would  give  hjm  public 
lands  to  the  width  of  thirty  miles  along  the  entire  road.  Later 
experience  has  shown  that  their  proceeds  would  have  been  utterly 
insufficient.  Yet  Whitney  did  not  fail  on  that  account,  but  be 
cause  he  could  excite  no  general  interest  in  the  subject. 

In  1850,  the  first  Pacific  railroad  bill  was  introduced  into  Con 
gress  by  sturdy  old  Benton.  It  contemplated  a  railway  only 
'where  practicable,'  leaving  gaps  in  the  impassable  mountains  to 
be  filled  uptby  a  wagon  road.  As  yet  even  the  Alleghanies  were 
not  crossed  by  any  unbroken  railway,  but  by  a  series  of  inclined 
planes,  upon  which  the  cars  were  drawn  up  and  let  down  by 
stationary  engines. 

In  1853-4,  by  direction  of  Congress,  nine  routes  were  surveyed 
across  the  continent  on  various  parallels  between  the  British  Pos 
sessions  and  Mexico.  Among  the  young  officers  in  charge  of 
these  explorations  were  McClellan,  Pope,  Saxton,  Parke,  and 
Whipple.  Another,  Lieutenant  Gunnison,  was  murdered  by  the 


600  EMIGRATION     MAKES     IT     CERTAIN.         [1869. 

Indians  while  in  the  performance  of  his  duty.  The  surveys  re 
sulted  in  thirteen  huge  quarto  volumes  of  reports,  which  are  now 
curiosities  of  our  historical  literature.  Being  issued  at  Govern 
ment  expense,  they  were  profusely  illustrated  with  colored  engrav 
ings  of  flowers,  plants,  reptiles,  fishes,  birds,  mountain  scenery, 
and  other  objects  which  had  no  intelligible  bearing  upon  the  ease 
or  difficulty  of  building  a  railway.  Under  the  supervision  of  Jeffer 
son  Davis,  then  Secretary  of  War,  the  results  were  summarised  in 
the  interest  of  the  extreme  Southern  line,  showing,  with  all  the 
falseness  of  figures,  that  a  road  near  the  Gulf,  along  the  thirty- 
second  parallel,  would  cost  only  half  as  much  as  one  further  north, 
and  that  the  route  upon  which  oiir  present  line  runs  would  be 
impracticable,  on  account  of  heavy  grades  and  deep  snows  in  the 
Sierras.  Even  up  to  186-1  the  Canadians,  and  many  of  our  own 
citizens,  believed  that  a  railway  could  not  be  built  south  of  the 
British  Possessions,  unless  it  was  carried  far  down  toward  Mexico. 

In  1859,  Congress  indicated  our  natural  and  inevitable  trans 
continental  system  by  authorizing  the  construction  of  three  roads — 
a  Northern,  a  Southern,  and  a  Central.  They  were  to  receive 
no  money  endowment,  but  very  liberal  land  grants.  Before  any 
active  steps  could  be  taken  to  build  them,  however,  all  such 
enterprise*  were  extinguished  for  the  time  by  our  great  war. 

But  what  Government  had  failed  to  do,  the  steady  course  of 
emigration  was  accomplishing.  The  Mormon  hegira  from  Illinois 
to  Utah,  the  Mexican  war,  the  California  gold  discoveries,  the 
Kansas  troubles,  and  the  rush  to  Pike's  Peak,  had  all  carried 
settlements  westward  from  the  Mississippi,  and  railroads  were  fol 
lowing  across  Missouri  and  Iowa. 

Simultaneously,  too,  civilization  began  to  push  eastward  from  the 
Pacific.  In  the  Washoe  county,  now  Nevada,  was  found  abundant 
quartz  rock,  rich  and  sparkling  with  silver.  A  rush  to  Washoe 
followed,  and  a  great  State  was  founded.  The  travel  and  traffic 
grew  so  enormous  that  a  turnpike  was  soon  built  from  Placerville, 
California,  over  the  seemingly  insurmountable  Sierras.  The 
machinery  and  other  freights  passing  over  it  in  a  single  year  paid 
tolls  to  the  amount  of  three  hundred  thousand  dollars  (gold),  and 
the  cost  of  transporting  them  was  estimated  at  thirteen  millions, 
or  more  than  twice  their  original  value. 


1869.]          ITS    BEGINNING     IN     CALIFORNIA.  601 

The  absolute  need  of  some  cheaper  and  easier  conveyance,  re 
vived  the  idea  of  a  continental  railway,  always  popular  in  Califor 
nia.  But  could  the  Sierras  be  crossed  by  the  locomotive  ?  And 
who  would  furnish  twenty-five  millions  of  dollars  to  build  a 
road  over  them?  Theodore  D.  Judah,  a  sanguine  engineer  of 
Sacramento,  insisted  that  the  project  was  practicable  both  topo 
graphically  and  pecuniarily.  Neighbors  laughed  at  him,  but 
earnestness  is  always  contagious.  Through  many  a  long  winter 
evening  he  talked  upon  his  favorite  theme  with  a  group  who 
frequented  the  hardware  store  of  Huntington  &  Hopkins,  a  firm 
of  wealthy,  but  cautious  and  frugal  merchants.  In  a  country  where 
everybody  speculated,  they  had  never  invested  a  dollar  in  mining, 
but  had  adhered  strictly  to  their  legitimate  business.  One 
partner,  with  his  family,  lived  in  their  store  building,  separated 
from  their  goods  only  by  a  board  partition  made  from  boxes  brought 
around  Cape  Horn,  all  the  way  from  Boston. 

Huntington  was  the  first  convert.  Soon,  Hopkins,  Crocker,  a 
leading  lawyer,  and  two  or  three  of  their  neighbors,  were  also 
among  the  prophets.  In  the  spring  of  1860,  these  gentlemen 
subscribed  fifty  dollars  apiece  to  enable  Judah  to  devote  the 
summer  to  a  careful  mountain  survey.  Other  Californians  had 
advocated  a  Pacific  Railway ;  legislatures  and  public  meetings 
had  indorsed  it ;  but  this  was  the  first  money  paid — the  business 
germ  of  the  greatest  enterprise  the  world  has  ever  seen. 

In  autumn  Judah  and  his  corps  returned  to  Sacramento, 
ragged,  jaded,  and  hungry ;  but  with  a  report  so  favorable  that 
fifteen  hundred  dollars  more  was  promptly  raised  to  support 
them  through  the  next  season.  A  second  summer  was  spent  in 
surveying,  with  equally  encouraging  results.  Then  Judah  was 
dispatched  to  San  Francisco  to  secure  subscriptions  for  incorpo 
rating  the  company ;  but  after  a  month  of  faithful  canvassing  he 
returned  home  without  having  obtained  a  dollar.  A  poor  engi 
neer  had  started  the  project ;  two  plain  hardware  merchants  had 
put  it  in  business  shape ;  and  now,  not  rich  San  Francisco,  but 
unpretending  Sacramento  was  to  make  it  a  success.  Even  after 
the  Central  Pacific  Company  had  been  chartered  by  the  California 
Legislature,  only  two  San  Franciscans  subscribed  for  shares  (fif 
teen  thousand  dollars,  all  told),  and  one  of  them  was  a  woman  I 


602  A     MILITARY     NECESSITY.  [1869. 

The  Company  sent  Judah  to  Washington,  where  he  hung  up 
his  charts  in  the  committee-rooms,  explained  that  California  was 
ready  to  take  hold  in  earnest,  and  though  civil  war  was  raging, 
invoked  the  aid  of  the  nation. 

A  few  railway  enthusiasts  from  New  York  and  Massachusetts 
were  already  pressing  the  same  request.  At  last  the  hour  was 
propitious.  Neither  Congress  nor  the  eastern  public  compre 
hended  that  our  commerce  and  travel  demanded  such  a  road. 
Public  opinion  was  not  ripe  for  it  as  a  business  enterprise.  But 
the  conflict  for  the  Union  had  already  accustomed  the  North  to  such 
lavish  outlay  that  the  expense  seemed  less  frightful  than  of  yore. 
It  had  also  developed  some  low  mutterings  about  a  Pacific  Re 
public,  and  had  shown  that  in  case  of  a  foreign  war  the  isolated 
west  coast  would  be  our  weak  point.  In  the  language  of  the 
hour,  a  continental  railway  was  A  Military  Necessity;  and  as 
such,  in  July,  1862,  one  was  chartered  from  the  Missouri  to  the 
Pacific,  with  an  endowment  of  unparalleled  richness.  (See  page 
461.)  x 

Thomas  C.  Durant  and  a  few  other  live  spirits  of  the  Union 
Pacific  (the  east  end  of  the  line),  were  full  of  faith  in  the  enter 
prise  ;  but  old  and  *  safe '  New  York  capitalists  regarded  it 
as  chimerical,  and  the  franchise  as  practically  worthless.  The 
charter  could  not  have  been  sold  in  Wall  Street  for  a  million 
of  dollars.  But  in.  1864  Congress  changed  the  Government  lien 
to  a  second  mortgage,  enabling  the  company  to  issue  fresh  mort 
gage  bonds  of  their  own.  Then  the  Union  Pacific,  after  many 
struggles,  made  a  beginning,  and  built: 


In  1865,  40  miles.  In  1868,  425  miles. 

«  1866,  265   "  "  1869,  105   " 

"  1867,  245   " 

Total    1080   " 


This  was  marvelously  rapid  work  for  a  rough  country,  much 
of  it  destitute  of  wood,  water,  and  supplies.  For  three  hundred 
miles  east  of  Salt  Lake  Valley  the  line  averages  nearly  seven 
thousand  feet  above  the  sea.  At  this  great  elevation  snows 
abound,  but  experience  will  teach  how  to  overcome  them. 


1869.]       LIFE     AT     THE     TERMINAL     STATION. 


603 


Omalia  and  Council  Bluffs,  Siamese  Twins  of  towns  at 
the  eastern  terminus  of  the  line,  grow  with  its  growth  and 
strengthen  with  its  strength.  Omaha  has  twenty  thousand 
people,  and  Council  Bluffs  ten  thousand,  with  several  diverging 
railways. 


GOING  TO   CALIFORNIA   IN    1867. 


During  construction,  the  'terminal  station,'  moving  forward 
with  each  advance  of  the  track,  was  usually  a  place  of  five  or  six 
thousand  inhabitants.  Eight  upon  the  desert  would  spring  up  a 
crowded  city,  with  enormous  warehouses,  daily  newspapers, 
churches,  banks,  and  gambling-saloons,  and  streets  thronged  with 
freight-teams  starting  westward.  In  a  few  weeks  the  scene  would 
shift,  and  all  this  varied  life  disappear,  leaving  only  a  little  station, 
with  its  water  tank  and  forlorn  dwellings. 

In  Wyoming,  the  line  traverses  the  dreary  Bitter  Creek  re 
gion.  Here  the  alkali  water  is  not  only  unfit  to  drink,  but  can 


604          A     RUNNING     FIGHT     WITH     INDIANS.      [1869. 

not  even  be  used  in  the  engines,  as  it  deposits  a  sediment  chok 
ing  and  clogging  up  the  boilers.  Until  some  method  of  neu 
tralizing  its  noxious  qualities  can  be  discovered,  a  water-train 
supplies  tanks  for  one  hundred  and  fiftymiles. 

Indians  have  thrown  one  or  two  trains  off  the  track,  but  in 
general  have  kept  very  clear  of  the  locomotive.  In  Kansas, 
however,  they  have  committed  many  outrages.  Going  to  Cali 
fornia  in  1867,  via  the  Kansas  Pacific  road,  and  thence  by  stage, 
through  Denver  and  Salt  Lake,  was  a  hazardous  undertak 
ing.  Near  Fort  Wallace,  one  day  in  June,  a  coach  which  carried 
five  passengers,  one  soldier  and  a  driver,  had  a  running  fight  for 
five  miles,  with  a  hundred  mounted  Sioux  and  Cheyennes.  The 
travelers  made  the  best  resistance  they  could  with  their  rifles,  and 
kept  the  savages  at  a  little  distance,  while  the  driver  put  his 
horses  to  their  utmost  speed.  Every  man  on  board,  except  one, 
was  killed  or  seriously  wounded.  An  old  frontier  friend  of  mine, 
Charles  H.  Blake,  happily  escaped,  though  with  a  broken  arm  and  a 
wound  in  the  head.  At  last  the  vehicle,  with  its  bleeding  and 
dying  inmates,  reached  the  shelter  of  Big  Timbers  Station,  and 
the  savages  sullenly  retired  without  having  taken  a  single  scalp. 
The  fight  was  probably  one  of  the  last,  and  certainly  one  of  the 
most  remarkable  in  the  history  of  the  Plains. 

The  Union  Pacific  road  found  for  the  first  five  hundred  miles 
west  from  Omaha  the  easiest  route  ever  followed ;  the  Central, 
for  a  hundred  and  thirty  east  from  Sacramento,  one  of  the  hardest. 
Before  receiving  any  Government  bonds  the  latter  company  must 
build  and  equip  forty  miles,  which  would  carry  the  track  far  up 
the  Sierras,  and  cost  four  millions  of  dollars.  Money  was  worth 
two  per  cent,  a  month  in  California.  The  corporators  put  in 
their  entire  fortunes,  and  obtained  help  both  from  San  Francisco 
and  the  State  ;  but  all  was  only  a  drop  in  the  bucket.  To  sur 
mount  the  range  would  cost  millions  upon  millions  more,  and  it 
seemed  impossible  to  obtain  the  money  either  in  the  United  States 
or  in  Europe,  for  a  line  that  was  to  become  one  of  the  world's 
main  arteries. 

Huntington,  the  vice-president  and  financial  manager,  was  in 
New  York,  vainly  endeavoring  to  procure  the  necessary  rolling 
stock  and  material.  In  casting  about  for  help,  he  encountered 


1869.] 


SNOW-SHEDS     ON     THE     SIERRAS. 


605 


Fisk  &  Hatch,  dealers  in  Government  securities,  who  had  done 
much  to  sustain  the  national  credit  through  the  darkest  days  of 
the  war.  'Young  men  for  action.'  While  older  financiers 
shook  their  heads,  these  young  bankers  deliberately  undertook 
to  furnish  the  company  with  whatever  money  was  needed,  and  as 
fast  as  it  was  needed.  The  amount  proved  to  be  from  five  to 
twenty  millions  of  dollars  per  year ;  but  they  fulfilled  their  agree 
ment.  They  went  into  the  work  in  earnest,  laboring  with  heavy  cap 
italists  in  person ;  investing  their  own  money  in  the  company's 
bonds,  ^  which  they  put  on  the  same  basis  with  those  of  the  Govern- 
ment ;  and  calling  to  their  aid  Eichard  T.  Colburn,  an  able  and 
experienced  journalist,  who,  with  great  skill  and  judgment,  sent 
forth  upon  the  wings  of  the  press  fact  after  fact,  showing  the 
greatness  of  the  work  and  the  value  and  safety  of  the  security. 
At  first  money  came  in  slowly,  but  it  soon  accumulated  like  a 
rolling  snowball.  The  bonds  were  rapidly  advanced  in  price  to 
keep  them  from  selling  faster  than  funds  were  needed ;  and  finally 
a  party  of  European  capitalists  subscribed  at  one  transaction  for 
four  or  five  millions  of  dollars'  worth  on  condition  that  the  loan 
should  be  closed. 

After  reaching  the  summit  of  the  Sierras,  the  company  pushed 
forward  with  wonderful  vigor.  There  were  no  connecting  roads 
from  which  to  borrow  rolling  stock ;  and  all  their  rails,  locomotives, 
and  other  material  had  to  be  shipped  sixteen  thousand  miles, 
around  the  Horn ;  yet,  under  these  disadvantages,  they  built : 


In  1863 20  miles 

"  1864 25     " 

"  1865 25     " 

"1866..  .  35     " 


"1867 ...  46  miles 

"1868 348     " 

"1869 199     " 

Total 698     " 


Upon  the  Sierras,  where  snow  sometimes  falls  to  the  depth  of 
thirty  feet,  twenty-two  miles  of  snow-sheds  protect  the  track. 
Once  or  twice  portions  have  been  swept  away  by  avalanches, 
causing  a  few  hours'  detention,  but  in  general  they  answer  their 
purpose  so  well  that  eighteen  miles  more  are  to  be  added. 

Of  the  seventeen  hundred  miles  between  Omaha  and  Sacra 
mento,  not  one-third  is  really  mountainous,  but  more  than  two- 
thirds  were  so  counted,  and  received  the  higher  Government 
39 


606  AVERAGE     COST     PER     MILE.  [1869. 

endowments,  thirty-two  thousand  or  forty-eight  thousand  dollars 
per  mile.  Much  of  the  Central  Pacific  traverses  a  flat  country, 
yet  not  one  mile  received  less  than  thirty- two  thousand  dollars. 
The  Union  Pacific  obtained  the  highest  figures  per  mile — forty- 
eight  thousand  dollars — for  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  west  of 
Cheyenne,  as  heavy  mountain  work,  though  the  region  is  really 
one  long,  inclined  plane — *  as  fine  a  country  to  build  a  railway 
through  as  lies  on  the  face  of  the  globe.' 

Building  and  equipping  the  entire  line  probably  cost  on  an 
average  fifty  thousand  dollars  per  mile.  The  Government  bonds 
issued  averaged  thirty  thousand  dollars  per  mile,  and  the  com 
panies'  first  mortgage  bonds  sold  for  nearly  thirty  thousand  dollars 
more,  leaving  a  cash  profit  of  seventeen  millions  of  dollars  upon 
construction  alone,  in  addition  to  the  ownership  of  the  road  and 
its  magnificent  land  grant.  Carver  was  right ;  the  builders,  *  ex 
clusive  of  the  national  advantages,'  indeed  reaped  'emoluments 
beyond  their  most  sanguine  expectations.'  And  they  finished  the 
road  a  year  earlier  than  its  friends  expected. 

One  of  its  early  results  will  be  to  secure  us  two  additional  lines 
— a  Northern  and  a  Southern.  We  need  them  to  develop  vast 
mining  and  farming  regions  now  lying  idle ;  to  end,  once  for  all, 
the  Indian  troubles ;  and  to  enable  us  to  command  that  vast  com 
merce  of  the  East  for  which  all  the  nations  are  striving.  A 
French  company  after  working  ten  years  and  expending  a  hundred 
millions  of  dollars,  has  completed  a  ship  canal  across  the 
Isthmus  of  Suez,  shortening  by  thousands  of  miles  the  old  sea 
routes  to  Asia;  the  Emperor  of  Kussia  is  building  a  railway 
across  Siberia  to  the  borders  of  China,  and  English  capitalists  are 
beginning  one  from  the  Mediterranean,  via  the  valley  of  the 
Euphrates,  the  Persian  coast,  Upper  India,  and  southern  China, 
to  the  Pacific.  The  foreign  commerce  of  China  amounts  to  five 
hundred  millions  of  dollars  per  annum.  Hitherto,  it  has  been 
chiefly  in  British  hands.  The  resident  English  merchants  still 
outnumber  the  Americans,  but  the  latter  are  gaining  steadily,  and 
are  much  the  more  popular  with  the  natives.  China  offers  us  a 
limitless  field  for  the  introduction  of  breadstuff's,  railways,  steam 
ers,  telegraph  lines,  machinery,  Yankee  notions,  and  manufactured 
goods.  India  and  Japan,  too,  invite  American  enterprise.  We 


1869.]  TWO     MORE     ROADS     NEEDED.  607 

have  every  advantage  of  position ;  but,  to  make  the  most  of  it, 
we  must  have  two  more  trans-continental  lines,  and  the  sooner  the 
better. 

The  main  stem  of  the  proposed  Southern  road  starts  westward 
from  Memphis  with  forks  to  New  Orleans  and  St.  Louis.  It  trav 
erses  the  thirty-fifth  parallel,  through  the  Indian  Territory,  New 


GOING  TO   CALIFORNIA   IN    1869. 

Mexico,  Arizona,  and  California,  to  San  Francisco.  It  will  afford 
a  direct  outlet  from  all  our  southern  States  to  the  Pacific,  and  give 
us  in  a  few  years  a  new  belt  of  rich  and  populous  commonwealths. 
The  company  now  building  the  Southwest  Eoad  of  Missouri  has  a 
land  grant  along  this  route,  and  may  construct  the  line. 

On  the  proposed  Northern  road,  from  Minnesota  to  Puget 
Sound,  four  States  alone — Montana,  Idaho,  Washington,  and 
Oregon — remote  and  inaccessible  as  they  are,  already  furnish  one- 
third  of  the  entire  gold  and  silver  product  of  the  United  States. 
A  railway  will  stimulate  enormously  the  growth  of  our  rich  nor- 


608 


UNIFORM    TIME    THE    WORLD     OVER.       [1869. 


them  belt  of  States.  It  will  make  the  distance  between  New  York 
and  China  nearly  a  thousand  miles  shorter  than  by  the  Central 
route.  Nor  will  it  be  seriously  obstructed  by  snow,  as  there  are 
no  high  mountain  crossings. .  A  company  is  chartered  and  has  re 
ceived  a  valuable  land  grant,  but  no  money  endowment.  At  au 
early  day,  and  in  the  safest  and  most  economical  manner,  the 
Government  should  secure  the  construction  of  both  these  lines. 

The  Atlantic  is  nearer  to  th^  Pacific  than  New  York  was  to 
Boston  fifty  years  ago.  Going  to  California  by  our  luxurious 
eating,  sleeping,  and  drawing-room  cars,  is  a  wonder  and  a  delight 
as  contrasted  with  the  old  plains  and  mountain,  or  ocean  and 
isthmus  travel.  At  noon  in  New  York  it  is  nine  A.  M.  in  San 
Francisco.  The  line  is'  so  long  that  trains  upon  it  are  run  by 
eight  or  ten  different  times.  Ultimately  we  shall  have  a  double 
set  of  hands  upon  all  watches — one  for  local  time,  and  one  for 
general  time — uniform  all  over  the  world. 

ACROSS  THE   CONTINENT. 
New  York  to  Omaha 14*79  miles. 


Omalia  to  Summit  Siding 

Miles. 
NEBRASKA     4 

Omaha  to  Overton  NEBRASKA.  . 

Miks. 
220 

"        Pa  pillion 

12 

"        Plum  Creek  

230 

"        Elkhorn 

28 

"        Coyote  

240 

"        Valley 

35 

"        Willow  Island  

250 

"        Fremont 

46 

260 

"        North  Bend 

61 

268 

"        Shell  Creek 

75 

....277 

91 

"        North  Platte  

291 

"        Jackson 

99 

"        O'Fallons  

307 

"        Silver  Creek 

109 

"        Alkali  

322 

"        Clark 

120 

332 

"        iJone  Tree 

131 

"        Offallala    . 

341 

"        Chapman          . 

142 

"        Big  Spring  

360 

"        Grand  Island 

153 

u        Julesburg         

377 

"        Pawnee          .  . 

161 

"        Lodge  Pole  

396 

"        Wood  River 

.   172 

"        Sidney  

414 

"        Gibbon 

...   182 

"        Potter  

433 

191 

"        Antelope  

451 

"        Stevenson 

201 

"        Bushnell  

....463 

"        Elm  Creek.. 

..211 

Pine  Bluff.  .  , 

..473 

1869.]    DISTANCES     ACROSS     THE     CONTINENT.        609 


1 

Omaha  to  Egbert,  NEBRASKA  

files. 
484 
496 
508 
.516 

522 
.528 

Omaha  t 

u 

« 
II 

u 
n 
n 
n 
u 
(( 
II 
(( 
(i 
H 
it 
(( 
II 
« 
(i 

H 

a 
n 
(( 

(Bran 

o  Benton,  WYOMING.  . 

Miles. 
694 

"        Hillsdale  

709 

"        Archer    

721 

"        Cheyenne,  WYOMING  
(Branch  to  Denver,  110  miles.) 
Omaha  to  Hazard  

738 

Wash-a-kie  

750 

Red  Desert  

759 

«        Ottoe  

Table  Rock  

770 

"        Granite  Canyon 

536 

Bitter  Creek     .  . 

783 

"        Buford  

542 
.549 

Black  Buttes  

792 

"        Sherman  

Point  of  Rocks.  .  . 

803 

"        Red  Butte  

564 
571 

Salt  Wells  

818 

"        Fort  Sanders 

Rock  Springs.  .  .  . 

829 

"        Laramie 

572 

Green  River 

844 

.586 

Bryan 

858 

"        Cooper's  Lake  

.598 

Granger  UTAH 

874 

"        Lookout  

.604 

Church  Buttes 

885 

»        Miser  

.615 

Carter 

901 

"        Rock  Creek  

622 

Bridger 

912 

11        Como  

.637 

925 

"        Medicine  Bow     . 

644 
653 

Aspen 

937 

"        Carbon  

Evanston 

952 

.658 

Wasatch  

963 

"        Percy  

665 

Echo  City 

986 

"        Dana  

672 

OGDEN 

1030 

11        St.  Mary's.. 

679 

ch  to  Salt  Lake  Citv. 

40  miles.) 

Omaha  to  Ogden 1030  miles. 


CENTRAL  PACIFIC  LINE. 


Miles. 

Ogden  to  Brigham  City,  UTAH 21 

11        Corinne  (Bear  River) 24 

"        Promontory  City 53 

"        Monument  Point 80 

"        Red  Dome  Pass 104 

"        Terrace  Point 124 

"        North  Point  of  Desert 136 

"        Passage  Creek 158 

"        North  Pass,  NEVADA 184 

"        Poquop.Pass 202 

"  Independence  Springs  . . .  .207 

"        Humboldt  Wells 222 

"        Deever 242 

"        Peko 258 

"  Osino..                            ..268 


Ogden 


Miles. 

to  Elko,  NEVADA 278 

Moleen 290 

Carlin 301 

Palisade 310 

Cluro 321 

Be-o-wa-we 329 

Shoshone 339 

Argenta 350 

Nebur 358 

Battle  Mountain 367 

Stonehouse 381 

Iron  Point 394 

Golconda 405 

Tule 416 

Winnemucca  . .  .  .422 


610                  THE     PIONEERS  AND     MARTYRS.  [1869. 

Miles.  Miles. 

Ogden  to  Rose  Creek,  NEVADA 432  Ogdcn  to  Summit,  CALIFORNIA 642 

"  Raspberry  Creek 443  "  Cisco 656 

"  Mill  City 450  "  Emigrant  Gap 664 

"  Humboldt 491  "  Blue  Canyon 670 

"  Rye  Patch 474  "  China  Ranch 672 

"  Humboldt  Bridge 491  "  Shady  Run 674 

Browns 513  "  Alta 679 

"  Humboldt  Lake 516  "  Dutch  Flat 681 

"  White  Plains 525  "  Gold  Run 683 

"  Mirage 532  "  C.  H.  Mills 689 

"  Hot  Springs 540  "  Colfax 693 

"  Desert 550  "  N.  E.  Mills 699 

"  Two-mile  Station 557  "  Clipper  &ap 705 

"  Wadsworth 559  "  Auburn 711 

"  Clarkg 574  "  Newcastle 716 

"  Camp  37 '..586  »  Rino 722 

"  Reno 593  "  Rocklin 726 

(Branch  to  Virginia  City.  1 7  miles.)  "  Junction 730 

Ogden  to  Verdi 603  "  Antelope 733 

"  Camp  24 619  "  Arcade 740 

-,  •'*  Boca,  CALIFORNIA 620  "  Sacramento 748 

"  Truckee 628 

Ogden  to  Sacramento 748  miles. 

Sacramento  to  San  Francisco 1 20     " 

NEW  YORK  TO  SAN  FRANCISCO 3377  miles. 


In  naming  stations  many  heroes  of  the  great  war  have 
been  fitly  remembered.  So  have  Fremont,  Benton,  Bridger,  and 
Peter  Ogden,  the  latter  an  old  guide  upon  the  Plains.  But  many 
more  should  have  been  commemorated — De  Yaca,  Carver,  Lewis 
and  Clark,  Long,  Pike,  Bonne ville,  Gunnison,  Whitney,  Judah 
(who  did  not  live  to  see  his  dream  a  reality),  and  the  other  pio 
neers  and  martyrs  of  the  national  highway. 

Some  sanguine  writers  believe  that  by  running  steamers  and 
locomotives  at  their  utmost  speed,  the  entire  time  can  be  reduced 
to  three  weeks — ten  days  from  Yokohama  to  San  Francisco,  four 
from  there  to  New  York,  and  seven  from  New  York  to  London ; 
but  for  the  present  we  may  be  abundantly  satisfied  with  nearly 
twice  that  time. 

Upon  these  closing  lines  my  pen  lingers,  and  I  listen  for  the 


1869.]     AROUND     THE     WORLD     BY     RAILWAY.  611 

voice  of  the  future  brakeman.     Day  after  day,  on  the  continental 
journey,  he  opens  his  door  an<^ shouts  to  sleepy  passengers: 

*  Chicago.     Change  cars  for  New  Orleans  and  Lake  Superior.' 

*  Missouri  Eiver.     Change  cars  for  Saskatchewan,  Kansas  City, 
and  Galveston.' 

1  Kocky  Mountains.  Change  cars  for  Santa  Fe,  El  Paso,  Mata- 
moras,  City  of  Mexico,  and  all  points  on  the  Northern  and  South 
ern  Pacific  Railroads.' 

'Great  Salt  Lake — twenty  minutes  for  dinner.  Change  cars 
for  Fort  Benton,  British  Columbia,  Big  Canyon  of  the  Colorado, 
White  Pine,  Panama,  Lima,  and  Valparaiso.' 

'Sierra  Nevada.  Change  cars  for  Owyhee,  Columbia  Biver, 
Puget  Sound,  Sitka,  and  Kamschatka.' 

'  San  Francisco.  Passengers  for  New  Zealand,  Honolulu,  Mel 
bourne,  Yokahama,  Hong  Kong,  and  all  other  points  in  Asia, 
Africa,  and  Europe  will  keep  their  seats  till  landed  on  the  wharf 
of  the  daily  line  of  the  Pacific  Mail  Steamship  Company.  Bag 
gage  checked  through  to  Pekin,  Calcutta,  Grand  Cairo,  Constan 
tinople,  St.  Petersburg,  Paris,  and  Liverpool!' 


ALPHABETICAL  INDEX.* 


ACAPULCO,  631 ;  beautiful  harbor,  582 ;  three  cen 
turies  ago,  532 ;  unhealthy.  534 ;  a  scorching 
city,  534. 

Adobes,  233;  250;  360;  520. 

Adonis,  a  swarthy,  299. 

African,  a  depraved,  286. 

Ague,  where  common,  181. 

Albuquerque,  New  Mex.,  249. 

Alcalde,  an  enraged,  240. 

Algondes,  New  Mex.,  250. 

Alleghania,  proposed  name  for  United  States, 
592. 

American  River,  Cal.,  385. 

Angela  Lake,  Cal.,  463. 

Antelopes,  hunting  the,  163;  contrasted  with 
buffaloes,  185;  spotted,  282;  hunted  by 
wolves,  232;  tame,  275. 

Apaches,  surprised  and  defeated,  234 ;  how  they 
regard  pictures,  234;  Mexican  raids,  245; 
Mangus,  246 ;  Indian  honor,  246. 

Applegate,  Jesse,  39$. 

Arapahoes,  women,  172;  expert  archers,  172; 
dwellings,  172;  intoxicated,  189;  depraved 
habits,  190 ;  guttural  language,  193 ;  panto 
mimic  language,  194;  surprised  war-party, 
291;  a  village,  300 ;  civilization,  303. 

Arizona,  237 ;  meaning  of,  474 ;  wastes  and  moun 
tains,  474. 

Arkansas,  214 ;  meaning  of  name,  215 ;  stringent 
slave  code,  217 ;  schools,  217 ;  epicurean 
drawbacks,  217;  corn-bread  inkstand,  217. 

Arkansas  River,  rich  valley  of,  275. 

Arny,  W.  F.  W.,  speech  of,  106. 

Ash  Point,  Kan.,  288. 

Aspin wall,  excellent  harbor,  542 ;  wretched  city, 
542 ;  million  dollars  in  bullion,  543 ;  voyage 
to  New  York,  543. 

Assessor,  a  bogus,  how  treated,  49. 

Astoria,  Oreg.,516. 

Atchison,  Kan.,  for  whom  named,  56 ;  coach  to 
Denver,  287;  journey  from  Folsom,  Cal.,  to, 
831 ;  improvement.  549. 

Aubrey,  F,  X.,  great  ride  of,  331. 

Austin,  Nev.,  discovery  of  silver,  869 ;  popula 
tion,  870;  gambling.  370;  mining,  870-1; 
promising  mines,  468. 


B. 

BADGERS,  598. 

Bannack,  Montana,  first  settlement,  477. 

Bayonet,  Spanish,  236. 

Bays,  murderer  of  Stephens,  lynched,  67. 

Bear,  a  young,  804;  irate  grizzly,  812;  stories  of, 
841;  playful  companion,  397;  ferocious 
brown,  569. 

Benubean,  M.,  270. 

Beckwourth,  James  P.,  Indian  fighter,  299. 

Bee,  Col.  F.  A.,  881. 

Bellingham  Bay,  W.  T.,  415. 

Bidwell,  Gen.  Jno.,  894. 

Bierstadt,  Albert,  409. 

Big  Blue  River,  Kansas,  288. 

Billings,  Fred.,  887. 

Blaisdel,  H.  G.,  Gov.  of  Nevada,  380,  465. 

Blake,  Charles  H.,  narrow  escape  of,  604. 

Blue  Mountains,  513;  a  forlorn  group,  513. 

Boggs,  Gov.,  of  Missouri,  470. 

Boise,  capital  of  Idaho,  500 ;  evidence  of  civiliza 
tion,  500;  valley,  $00;  country  south  of, 
504 ;  bold  Indians,  504. 

Bonneville,  Captain,  596, 

Boston  physician  in  trouble,  201. 

Brandj  preserved  by  bur 

Breckenridge,  Colorado,  810. 

Bridger's  Pass,  841. 

Broderick,  killed  in  duel  by  Terry,  225. 

Bross,  Gov.,  827,  441. 

Brown,  Capt.  E.  P.,  chopped  to  pieces,  64 

Brown,  John,  reward  for  his  capture,  152; 
shrewdness  and  enthusiasm,  153 :  slave  in 
surrection,  279 ;  Harper's  Ferry,  279 ;  con 
ducting  fugitives,  282;  defies  the  marshal, 
284;  death,  286 ;  his  widow,  895. 

Buchanan,  President,  hostile  to  Free-State  move 
ment,  48 ;  designs  on  Kansas,  85 ;  breaks  his 
word,  87 ;  medals  of,  308. 

Buckeyes,  132. 

Buell,  Col.  D.  C.,  869. 

Buffaloes,  indifference  to  bullets,  166 ;  excellent 
road-makers,  167;  last  seen  east  of  Missis 
sippi,  167;  value  to  Indians,  167;  dimin 
ishing,  170;  Greeley  on,  170;  large  herds, 
170. 

Buffalo,  city  of,  238. 

Butler,  Rev.  Pardee,  tarred  and  feathered,  5<l 


*  For  portraits,  etc.,  see  List  of  Illustrations,  pages  iii.  viii. 


ALPHABETICAL     INDEX. 


Bunch  grass,  495,  582. 
Butterfield.  John,  237. 
Byers,  William  M.,  293. 


CACHE  A  LA  POUDBE,  202. 

Cactus,  varieties  of,  231. 

California,  climate,  278;  bank-notes,  363;  Hum- 
boldt's  prediction,  385;  capacity  for  fruit, 
388 ;  Chinese  residents,  3SO ;  big  trees  of.  432- 
4;  windmills,  435;  politics,  442;  mining 
vicissitudes,  443;  characteristics  of  people, 
443;  aborigines,  444:  placer  mining,  451; 
farming,  452;  vegetables  and  fruits,  453-4 ; 
wine,  455;  ancient  divisions  and  ety 
mology,  45T;  capture,  458;  early  money, 
458;  vastness  ol  resources,  459;  shiftless 
settlers,  520 ;  Geysers,  021  ;  Kussian  river, 
521;  Hog  Back,  522;  Pluton  river,  523; 
Devil's  canyon,  wash-bowl,  and  kitchen, 
523-4;  Witches'  caldron,  625;  natural  beau 
ties,  526;  thriving  industries,  579;  exporta 
tion  of  wheat,  579 ;  breadstuff's  for  Asia,  579 ; 
literature, 581 ;  journey  thither  in  1867,  604. 

California,  Lower,  Gulf  and  Peninsula  of,  031. 

Camp  Stockton,  Texas,  233. 

Camp  Douglas,  Utah,  351. 

Caribbean  Sea,  a  gale,  546  ;  a  Btorm  by  night, 
546. 

Carson  City,  Nev.,  379  ;  valley,  379. 

Carson,  Kit,  256,  257,  258,  259,  260. 

Carver,  Jonathan,  travels   and  predictions,  595. 

Catfish,  115;  strange,  253. 

Celilo,  Greg.,  large  warehouse,  403. 

Charon,  an  ingenious  W'estern,  35. 

Cherokees,  136;  slaves  among,  216;  semi-civil 
ized,  220;  slaves,  220;  John  Eoss,  220; 
Sequoyah,  589. 

Cheyennes,  163 ;  instinctive  thieves,  173;  dress 
and  villages,  174;  moving  villages,  175. 

Cheyenne,  Wyoming,  572;  vigilance  commit 
tees,  572  ;  a  unique  verdict,  572. 

Chicago,  meaning  of  name  of  plant,  121 ;  palace 
cars,  548  ;  meeting  of  woolen  manufactu 
rers,  574;  wide-awake,  588. 

Chickasaws,  224. 

Chico,  Cal.,  394. 

Chinese  in  California,  388  ;  Montana,  579 ;  New 
York,  593;  on  Pacific  Coast,  593 ;  immense 
numbers,  594. 

Choctaws,  215;  code  of  laws,  220;  euphonious 
names,  220 ;  flat  foreheads,  221 ;  occupations 
and  progress,  221;  language,  222;  a  giiTs 
school,  222;  elections,  222;  criminal  code, 
222;  journey  through  territory,  223. 

Church  Butte,  Utah,  341. 

Cincinnati,  early  currency,  363. 

Cities,  new.  uncertainties  of,  61. 

City  ofKocks,  Idaho,  496. 

Civilization,  course  East  to  West,  23 ;  advanced 
guards,  203;  last  outpost,  226;  evidence, 
275;  noticeable  landmarks,  500;  stagnant, 
533 ;  pushing  eastward,  600. 

Clark,  Mr.,  hermit  and  pioneer,  431. 

Clear  Creek,  Col.,  179. 

Colburn,  Kichard  T.,  605. 

Colfax,  Hon.  Schuyler,  journey  to  the  Pacific, 
327 ;  escort,  328 ;  not  caught  by  Indians, 
308  ;  among  the  mountains,  340  ;  traveling 
arsenal,  341 ;  trappers1  experience,  342 ; 
mountain  snowballing,  343  ;  reception  by 
the  Mormons,  345;  a  pointed  speech,  346  ; 
chat  by  telegraph,  849  ;  visit  from  Mormon 
Elders,  349 ;  discussion  on  polygamy,  350  ; 
staging  over  the  desert,  367;  welcome  at 
Carson  City,  380 ;  reaches  California,  382 ; 


stage-ride  in  the  mountains,  382 ;  down  the 
Sierras,  384;  reception  at  Placerville,  385; 
lost  sight  of  Sierras,  3^6 ;  reach  San  Fran 
cisco,  8S6 ;  reception  at  Portland,  400 ;  ex 
cursion  up  the  Columbia,  401;  at  Dalles, 
404;  mid  ight  forest  reception,  405;  a  great 
man  a  rare  sight,  406;  a  cider  story,  410;  re 
ception  at  Olympia,  414;  banquet  at  Victo 
ria,  417;  trip  to  Yosemite,  420;  Celestial 
hospitalities,  436;  Chinese  restaurant,  437 ; 
Chinese  dishes,  439 ;  Oriental  music.  439  ; 
Chinese  wine,  440;  Chinese  speech,  440;  a 
happy  family  broken  up,  440 ;  a  shivering 
ride,  5'28. 

Colorado  City,  Col.,  275;  extent,  312. 

Colorado,  289 ;  etymology,  290 ;  Rocky  Moun 
tain  News,  292 ;  human  endurance,  293  ; 
monument  region,  311 ;  agriculture  and  eggs, 
333;  newspapers,  333 ;  civilization,  333;  gold 
yield,  337;  altitude  of  mining  regions,  337; 
population,  337 ;  cattle  and  crops,  573 ;  female 
help.  573;  atmosphere  and  scenery,  573. 

Colorado  Kiver,  478  ;  Bis  Canyon,  473  and  575; 
abodes  of  spirits,  474 ;  a  romantic  voyage, 
575-578. 

Columbia  Kiver,  401 ;  lower  cascades,  402;  nav 
igation,  405 ;  early  discoverers,  408 :  danger 
ous  bar,  408;  fearful  revenge,  409;  beauty, 
409 ;  trip  down,  514 ;  Mrs.  Victor's  poem, 
516. 

Columbus,  Neb.,  566. 

Comanches,  fierce  savages,  228;  expert  riders, 
229;  mode  of  showing  respect,  '229;  skillful 
thieves,  229 ;  on  the  war  path,  230 ;  system 
of  signals.  230;  attack  by,  '231;  trails  to 
Mexico,  '233 ;  a  white  captive  maid,  233. 

Comstock  Lode,  Nev.,  discovery,  374 ;  mining, 
374;  growing  poor,  582;  terrible  fire,  582. 

Conner,  Gen.  P.  E.,  327,  328. 

Conwuy,  M.  D.,  a  Southern  abolitionist,  47. 

Cooper,  Mrs.  Julia  Dean,  358. 

Corn,  Indian,  beauty  of,  203. 

Council  Bluffs,  Iowa,  570 ;  population  and  rail- 


Creeks,  curious  custom,  221 ;  famous  pedestrians, 

221. 
Cross,  Edward  E.,  cathedral  bell-tongue,  243; 

death,  244. 


DACOTAH,  meaning  of  name,  569. 

Dalles,  Oregon  ;  402  ;  etymology,  403  ;  pleas 
ant  town,  515. 

Davis,  JeflVrson,  235,  600. 

Delaware,  Reservation  of,  33  ;  do.,  S3;  journey 
through,  84 ;  anecdotes  of  92  ;  marriage  re 
lations,  94  ;  pride  of  caste,  254. 

Denver,  James  W.,  Gov.  of  Kansas,  99  ;  novel 
experience,  99  ;  fair  and  just,  108  ;  city 
named  for  him,  108. 

Denver  City,  Col.,  177;  effect  of  a  bonnet,  178; 
jumping  a  cabin,  184 ;  a  polite  host,  185; 
motley  society,  186 ;  revolver  practice  on  a 
barkeeper,  186  ;  gaming,  186  ;  life  at  Den 
ver  House,  187;  gambling,  18S  ;  an  accom 
plished  New  Yorker,  188  ;  Blake  Street,  189, 
300  ;  newspapers,  189  ;  money,  189  ;  view 
of,  278 ;  mountain  journey,  278  ;  develop 
ment,  279  ;  effect  of  whisky,  279  ;  popular 
law,  290  ;  phases  of  life,  294  ;  city  of  the 
dead,  294 ;  breakfast  part}-,  296  ;  a  western 
editor,  297  ;  real  estate,  298  ;  Denver  Hall, 
301 ;  drunken  brawl,  801  ;  lucky  miners, 
304;  a  debt  collector,  304  ;  outrages,  30ft; 
luckless  scribe,  805 ;  model  postmaster, 
805;  theatrical  experier  ce,  30(5 ;  mining  no- 


ALPHABETICAL     INDEX. 


615 


manclature,  SOT  ;  storm  on  the  plains,  382  ; 
rapid  advancement,  333  ;  views  and  scene 
ry,  333. 

Desert,  Great  American,  135,  330,  881,  863. 

De  Vaca,  Cabeca,  travels,  595. 

Devlin,  Pat,  123,  126,  293. 

Dialects,  peculiarities  of,  50. 

Doniphan,  Kan.,  5T. 

Donner  Lake,  Cal.,  463. 

Douglas,  Sir  James,  417. 

Douglas,  Stephen  A.,  Kansas  and  Nebraska 
Act,  560. 

Doy,  Dr.  John,  kidnapped,  152  ;  trial  at  St.  Jo 
seph,  153. 

Durant,  Thus.  C.,  contractor  of  Union  Pacific 
Kailroad,  567  ;  faith  in  it,  602. 


EASTON,  Kan.,  64. 

Echo  Canyon,  Utah,  844. 

Egan  Canyon,  Nev.,  86. 

Eggs,  how  to  preserve.  199. 

Elgin,  111.,  National  Watch  Co.,  574. 

Elko,  Nev.,  583. 

El  Paso,  Hex.,  234,  235,  23S,  241,  242,  243,  244. 

Elwood,  Kan.,  57. 

Emigration,  westward,  23 ;  result  of  fixed  law, 

23. 

Emigration  Canyon,  Utah,  344. 
Epitaph,  singular,  394. 

F, 

FAYETTEVILLE,  Ark.,  moonlight  view,  214. 
Fev«r,  where  common,  131 ;  quinine  taken  when 

church  bells  rung,  132;  '  crick  '  lands,  2S4  ; 

Panama,  544  ;  singular  form,  570. 
Fisk  &  Hatch,  Pacific  Railroad  bonds,  605. 
Fontaine  qui  Bouille,  275,  276. 
Fort  Belknap,  Texas,  226. 
Fort  Benton,  Montana,  head  of  navigation   on 

Missouri,  4S2 ;  Indian  customs,  597. 
Fort  Boise,  Idaho,  345 ;  distance  from  Salt  Lake 

City,  475. 

Fort  Bridger,  Utah,  342. 
Fort  Chad'bourne,  Texas,  228. 
Fort  Fillmore,  Texas,  245. 
Fort  Garland,  New  Mex.,  271. 
Fort  Kearney,  203 ;  a  night  storm,  288  ;  freights, 

329. 

Fort  Laramie,  202. 
Fort  Quitrnan,  Texas,  236. 
Fort  Scott,  Kansas,  127;  peace  (!)  convention 

at,  128  ;  fourth  Kansas  town,  557  ;  a  cheap 

mail  contract,  558. 
Fort  Smith,  Ark.,  situation  and  population,  215; 

negro  life,  216;    early  days,    217;    author 

takes  typhoid  fever,  218 ;  nature's  remedy, 

218. 

Fort  Union,  an  oil  painting,  483. 
Fort  Wallace,  Kan.,  a  running  fight,  604. 
Fort  Yuma,  excessively  hot,  581. 
Foss,  Clark  T.,  521. 
Foster,  Rev.  Daniel,  48. 
Francisco,  Mr.,  291. 
Franklin,  Kan.,  its  capture,  282. 
Fraser  River,  gold  discoveries,  416,  582. 
Fremont,  helps  to  develop  the  West,  596. 
Frijoles,  266. 

Fuca,  Straits  of,  416 ;  Juan  de,  416. 
Fuller,  R.  B.,  adventures  with  buffaloes,  167. 

6. 

GEARY  CITY,  Kan.,  57. 

Georgia,  fraudulent  land  sales,  105. 


Gilpin,  Gov.  William,  statement  about  Eocky 
Mountains,  186. 

Golden  City,  Col.,  195;  Mountaineer,  289. 

Golden  Gate,  Col.,  196  ;  446. 

Gold,  origin  of,  poem,  471. 

Gordon,  James,  292. 

Gore,  Sir  George,  a  noble  sportsman.  255. 

Grant,  Gen.  U.  8.,  in  California,  397;  modest 
aspirations,  402. 

Grasshopper  Falls,  Kan.,  282. 

Granby,  Mo.,  ride  to,  209 ;  rich  lead  district,  210 ; 
resemblance  to  gold  diggings,  210;  drinking 
saloons,  211 ;  lead  mines  and  mining,  211. 

Granite  Knob,  Mo.,  206. 

Greasers,  247. 

Great  Salt  Lake  City,  845;  granite  temple,  347; 
future  importance,  351 ;  newspapers,  351 ; 
abundance  of  babies,  354 ;  Bowery  temple, 
356;  theater,  357;  hot  baths,  468;  road  to 
Idaho,  476. 

Great  Salt  Lake,  347,  355;  Dead  Sea,  856;  swim 
and  sail,  356;  valley  of,  359;  stage  from 
Montana,  493;  blue  and  shining,  494. 

Great  Muddy  River,  480. 

Great  Yellow  River, 'bridges  over,  588. 

Greeley,  Horace,  journey  to  Pike's  Peak,  161 ; 
address  at  Junction  City,  162;  puts  his 
shoulder  to  the  wheel,  169;  meets  with 
an  accident,  173;  mule  ride,  180;  addresses 
first  mass  meeting  in  Rocky  Mountains, 
183;  chief  goose  quill,  191;  loses  his  va 
lise,  195;  among  the  Saints,  195;  crosses 
the  Sierras,  195;  another  job,  195;  an  ex 
citing  ride,  3S3 ;  a  lonely  Yankee,  431 ;  on 
Colorado  desert,  472. 

Gregory,  John  H.,  finds  gold  at  Pike's  Peak,  178. 

Gregory  Diggings,  Col.,  335,  336. 

Guatemala,  535. 

Gulf  Stream,  547. 

Gunnison,  Lieut.,  murdered,  600. 

H. 

H  AIRGROVE,  Asa,  46.  552. 

Haller,  William,  kills  Lyle,  64;  committed  to 
Fort  Leavenworth,  but  escapes,  66. 

Halladay,  Ben.,  831. 

Hamilton,  Charles,  Marais  des  Cygnes  mur 
derer,  116 ;  a  slight  mistake.  15l>. 

Harper's  Ferry,  Va.,  279. 

Healdsburg,  Cal.,  521. 

Helena.  Montana,  road  from  Virginia  City,  480 ; 
description.  482 ;  altitude,  483 ;  population 
and  progress,  578. 

4  Hell  on  Wheels,'  572. 

Henderson,  J.  T.,  charged  with  fraud,  102 ;  is 
captured  but  escapes,  103 ;  a  wounded  leg  an 
ample  apology,  103. 

Hermann.  Mo.,  wines,  18. 

Hood,  Mount,  403 ;  height  and  eruptions,  515. 

Hooker,  Gen.  J,>e,  397. 

Hoosiers,  132,  598. 

Horn  Cape,  Oregon,  401,  462. 

Hudson's  Bay  Company.  462. 

Hatchings,  landlord  and  author,  423. 

I. 

IDAHO,  meaning  of  name,  135;  barest  terri 
tory,  494 ;  mineral  wealth,  495 ;  mining  dis 
tricts,  500 ;  unattractive  society,  501 ;  dis 
loyalty,  501 ;  new  territories  uniform,  502 ; 
gold  and  silver  mining,  503;  old  processes 
preferred,  506;  Italian  summers,  &c.,  507; 
early  gold  discoveries,  507 ;  freights  and 
provisions,  507  ;  first  newspaper,  510 ;  crush 
ing  mills,  510  ;  development  of  quartz  min- 


616 


ALPHABETICAL     INDEX. 


ing,  511 ;  irrigation  and  farming,  511 ;  black 
crickets,  511 ;  population,  512 ;  prosperity, 
579. 

Illinois,  prairie  State,  548 ;  granary  and  garden 
of  world,  548. 

Indian  Territory,  products  of,  219;  Gov. 
Walker's  house,  219;  population  of,  219; 
native  doctors,  219 ;  extent,  soil,  climate, 
224;  Delaware  Indians  removed  to,  550; 
to  open  to  settlers,  589. 

Indians,  conference  with,  303 ;  tribes  in  Oregon, 
&c.,  502;  their  patois,  502;  contemplative 
savage,  512 ;  Flatheads,  516 ;  their  exit,  519. 

Ingalls,  John  J.,  287. 

Inkstand,  a  novel,  217. 

Inspiration  Point,  Tosemite,  420. 

Iowa,  etymology,  571;  towns,  ubilt  by  railroads, 
571 ;  well  watered  and  timbered,  571 ;  enter 
prising  land-owner,  571. 

Iron  Mountain,  Mo.,  204. 

Iron,  smelting,  205. 

Irrigation,  cheap  machinery  wanted,  868. 

J. 

JACKSON,  AND'W,  excuse  for  drunken  officer,  47. 

Jacksonville,  Oregon,  897 ;  miners  of,  407. 

Jefferson,  Mo.,  a  dreary  capital,  19. 

Johnson  County,  Kan.,  its  wild  fruits,  77; 
prairies,  79. 

Jordan  River,  Utah,  856,  864,  866. 

Jornanda  del  Muerto,  245. 

Judah,  Theodore  D.,  Pacific  Railroad,  601 ;  pre 
mature  death,  610. 

Junction  City,  Kan.,  161. 

K. 

KAGI,  of  John  Brown's  band,  286. 

Kansas  City,  Mo.,  25;  route  from  Santa  Fe, 
256;  New  Mexican  trade,  549;  population, 
550 ;  growth,  558 ;  prospects,  568. 

Kansas-Nebraska  Act,  pending  in  Congress,  27 ; 
effect  of,  41. 

Kansas,  pro-slavery  editor,  27 ;  who  fights  for 
the  Union,  28;  emigration  societies,  27; 
ballot-box  overawed,  28 ;  Kaw  river,  29 ; 
meaning  of  name,  29 ;  first  town  and  news 
paper,  36 ;  politics  of,  41 ;  bogus  laws,  42 ; 
guerrilla  warfare,  42 ;  main  features  of  con 
test,  43 ;  eastern  border,  57  ;  speculation  in 
town  lots,  58 ;  remnants  of  river  cities,  60  ; 
resolution  of  territorial  convention,  73 ; 
opinion  of  early  Missourians,  79 ;  anecdote 
of  infantry  regiment,  80 ;  last  treason  trial, 
82 ;  convention  at  Grasshopper  Falls,  88 ; 
conflicting  reports  of  elections,  86;  free- 
state  majority  in  legislature,  87;  free-soil- 
ers  resist  Lecompton  constitution,  87 ;  pop 
ulation  enrolled  and  armed,  88;  generals 
abundant,  88;  '57-8,  winter  of,  89;  night 
rides  in,  89;  an  Indian  host,  90;  Indian 
Dames  of  towns,  97 ;  civil  war  imminent,  99 ; 
popular  rumors,  99 ;  Denver  appointed  gov 
ernor,  99 ;  ruse  to  get  arms,  100 ;  election 
returns,  100 ;  Kickapoo  hangers,  100 ;  cir 
cular  voting,  101 ;  eminent  characters  per 
sonated,  101  ;  free-soil  officers  under 
Lecompton  constitution,  102 ;  memorialize 
Congress  against  admission  of  State,  102 ; 
repudiated  by  the  people,  102;  commission 
to  investigate,  103  ;  searching  for  false  rec 
ords,  103;  a  novel  candle-box,  104;  legis 
lative  resolutions,  108;  four  governments 
at  once,  108 ;  settlers  between  two  fires,  109 ; 
searching  for  a  lodging,  111;  border  skir 
mishing,  120 ;  tour  of  peace  commissioners, 


120;  a  woman's  triumph,  122;  border 
worthies,  123;  child  of  murdered  settler, 
124;  a  Highland  bride,  129;  no  swamps, 
132;  provincialisms,  132-3;  home  phrases, 
132;  slang  terms,  134;  discovery  of  pearls, 
135;  gold  fever,  135;  rattlesnakes,  137; 
novel  divorce,  142 ;  an  invalid  absent  wife, 
143;  doubtful  physician,  146;  burlesque 
trial,  146 ;  costly  kiss,  147 ;  easy  divorces, 
147 ;  bogus  laws  repealed,  148 ;  a  new  ex 
citement,  149;  journey  to  in  olden  times, 
154;  a  modern  trip,  155;  a  frontier  grocery, 
162 ;  Methodist  squatter,  281 ;  '  crick '  lands, 
284 ;  immigrant  women,  289  ;  grasshoppers, 
552 ;  wild  grasses,  553 :  county  names,  553 ; 
supplies  for  Colorado  and  Utah,  554 ;  agricul 
tural  implements,  554 ;  scarcity  of  lumber, 
554 ;  laws  affecting  women,  555 ;  salines, 
coal-beds,  marble,  and  lead,  557;  progress  of 
Miami  Co.,  558;  best  lands,  559;  drouths 
and  mineral  resources,  559 ;  agricultural  ca 
pabilities,  559;  cattle  and  fruits,  560;  plain 
dwellings,  560 ;  value  of  property,  561 ;  rap 
id  progress,  588. 

Kansas  River,  shallowness  of,  115;  catfish  in, 
115 ;  how  formed,  161. 

Kennekuck,  Kan.,  Gilpin-like  debtor,  287. 

Kentucky,  a  night  with  squatter  from,  54;  corn 
dodgers,  56;  a  Bombastes,  110. 

Knox,  Thomas  W.,  281. 

L. 

LADY,  old,  in  a  steamboat  race,  22. 

Lane,  General  James  H.,  sketch  of  44-46 ;  a  re 
ception  by,  106;  kills  Jenkins,  113;  cause 
of  quarrel,  114;  discharged,  114;  elected 
Senator,  114;  commits  suicide,  115;  speech 
from,  151. 

Lane,  Gen.  Jo.,  898. 

Laundress,  an  aristocratic,  301. 

Law-and-order  men,  outrages  by,  72, 

Lawrence,  Kan.,  for  whom  named,  37 ;  extent, 
87 ;  early  troubles,  37 ;  beautiful  site,  87  ; 
a  Yankee  town,  50 ;  novel  mode  of  collecting 
debts,  50;  false  reports  of  its  bombardment, 
75;  its  'siege,'  76;  forks  of  U.  P.  railroad, 
551 ;  twice  destroyed,  556 ;  real  estate,  556 ; 
Quantrell's  raid.  550. 

Leavenworth,  Kan.,  largest  town  in  State,  58 ; 
progress,  53;  advantages  of  site,  61;  elec 
tion  of  free  State  ticket  (1857),  64;  a  fron 
tier  court  of  justice,  64;  scenes  of  violence, 
66 ;  recanting  Mormons,  70 ;  first  coach  from 
Pike's  Peak,  159;  journey  from  Denver, 
280;  freights,  829;  future  prospects,  549. 

Lecompte,  Judge  S.  D.,  65. 

Lecompton  convention,  87. 

Leland,  Josephine,  398. 

Leonardt,  Hungarian  refugee,  48. 

Lewis  and  Clark,  490 ;  journey  up  Missouri,  491 ; 
report,  490-492 ;  monument,  492  ;  narrative, 

Limpia  Canyon,  Tex.,  234. 
Lincoln,  Abraham,  unambitious  hopes,  402  ;  fu 
neral  (poem),  470. 
Long's  Peak,  Col.,  176,  302. 
Louisiana  purchase,  490. 
Lovejoy,  Dr.,  518. 
Ludlow,  Hugh  Fitz,  469. 
Lyle,  James  T.,  slain  by  Haller,  64. 


MAEAIS  DES  CYGNES,  massacre  of,  116 ;  Snyder's 
resistance,  117;  Whittier's  ballad,  118;  a 
survivor,  552 ;  fate  of  murderers,  552. 


ALPHABETICAL     INDEX. 


617 


Manhattan,  Kan.,  center  of  United  States,  554; 
agricultural  college,  555. 

Marcy,  Gen.  K.  B.,  expedition  to  Utah,  343. 

Mariposa,  Cal.,  big  trees,  432;  grizzly  giant,  433; 
a  Calaveras  sequoia,  433 ;  great  age,  434. 

Marysville,  Kan.,  its  founder,  288,  554. 

Marysville,  Cal.,  894. 

Maxwell's  Kanch,  N.  M.,  273. 

Medary,  Samuel,  Gov.  of  Kansas,  151;  severely 
handled  by  Lane,  152 ;  witty  barber,  296. 

Mesquite,  shrub  and  grass,  226. 

Mexico  villages,  237 :"  names,  238 ;  people,  241 ; 
fandango,  242;  peons,  243;  rebozo,  243; 
farming,  249  ;  hospitality,  259 ;  carriages  and 
donkeys,  261 ;  water-mill,  271 ;  imperial 
soldiers,  533. 

Mexico,  New,  tarantula,  245;  a  female  miller, 
247;  tortillas,  247;  a  spicy  dish,  248;  a 
vestal  landlady,  248 ;  venerable  settlements, 
250;  gambling,  251;  mineral  wealth,  253; 
silver,  254;  freights,  254;  female  chastity, 
254;  highwaymen,  259;  annexation  rebel 
lion,  262;  penitentes,  563;  Randolph's  in 
vective,  264;  saline  lakes  and  ruined  cities, 
267  ;  mountains,  268 ;  irrigation,  270  ;  moun 
tain  scenery,  272  ;  mining  excitements,  585. 

Middle  Park,  Col.,  309 ;  hot  springs,  573. 

Miner,  a  young  and  successful,  578. 

Minneola,  Kan.,  attempt  to  make  it  State  cap 
ital,  104 ;  project  a  failure,  105. 

Mirage,  a  wonderful,  496. 

Mississippi  Kiver,  meaning  of  name,  549;  cross 
ing  the,  571 ;  progress  west  of,  572 ;  early 
settlers  along,  599. 

Missouri,  Pacific  railroad  of,  17;  retarded  by 
slavery,  17 ;  landscape  in  spring  and  Au 
gust,  18 ;  capacity  for  vine  culture,  18 ;  com 
promise  bill,  29 ;  tries  to  make  Kansas  a 
slave  State,  41 ;  roving  frontier  families,  78; 
women  smoking,  131 ;  not  a  grammarian, 
184 ;  garden  of,  144 ;  heavy  overland  trade, 
144 ;  a  musical  abolitionist,  154 ;  Hannibal 
and  St.  Joseph  Railroad,  154 ;  iron  region. 
204 ;  country  in  southwest,  207;  resources  o£ 
209 ;  lead  region,  209 ;  prairies,  cattle,  and 
farms,  549 ;  progress,  588 ;  railway  develop 
ment,  589. 

Missouri  Elver,  its  old  names,  19 ;  description 
of,  19,  20;  Benton's  account,  19;  muddy 
waters  healthy,  19;  snags,  20;  navigating 
it,  21 ;  steamboats,  22 ;  gambling  on  do.,  24 ; 
motley  passengers  and  prayer-meeting,  25 ; 
rapid  shifting  of  its  bed,  61 ;  vagaries  of  its 
course,  63 ;  river  mud,  116;  sources  of,  480 ; 
at  Fort  Benton,  483 ;  Great  Falls,  492. 

Monk  Hank,  the  stage-driver,  383,  384. 

Monrovia,  Kan.,  Fourth  of  July  celebration,  131. 

Montana,  a  circuitous  journey,  467;  first  settle 
ment,  477 ;  agricultural  capacity,  480 ;  vege 
tables,  480;  rich  placer  mines,  482;  immi 
grants.  482;  newspapers  and  post-offices, 
4S5;  climate,  485;  miners'  phrases,  486;  ap- 
,  propriateness  of  name,  486;  Indian  popula 
tion  and  names,  486 ;  Vigilantes,  487 ;  specu 
lation,  488 ;  scenery  and  minerals,  489 ;  de 
velopment,  489;  adieu,  493;  new  mining 
processes,  506;  growth,  578;  failures  in 
quartz  mining,  578;  hot  springs,  579. 

Montezuma,  zoological  garden  of,  170. 

Montez,  Lola,  397. 

Montgomery,  James,  Free-State  guerrilla  chief, 
120 ;  farmers  for  him,  124 ;  resemblance  to 
Fremont,  125;  a  praying  fighter,  126;  at 
tempts  to  arrest  him,  129 ;  his  manly  speech, 
130. 

Mormons,  Indian  attack,  338;  fortifications,  344; 
a  bishop,  344;  services,  34T;  hospitality, 


347 ;  symbol  of,  349 ;  bible,  352 ;  school,  354 ; 
Gentile  stories,  355;  foreigners,  360;  ladies, 
861 ;  crimes,  362 ;  proclivities  of  women, 
865;  fate  of  polygamy,  865;  personal  bitter 
ness.  468;  a  destroying  angel,  468;  a  poet 
ess,  470;  effect  of  railways  —  Brigharn's 
opinion,  575. 

Morris ville,  Utah,  tragic  history,  475. 

Mother  Mountains,  289. 

Mules,  traveling  by,  235 ;  stolen  by  Indians,  840. 

N. 

NATION,  the  Great,  408. 

Nebraska,  562. 

Nevada,  mineral  resources,  878;  hot  springs, 
379;  first  governor,  880;  agricultural  ca 
pacity,  482;  medicinal  hot  springs,  582, 

Newberry,  Dr.  J.  S.,  267. 

New  Grenada,  uncivilized  youth  of,  537, 

New  South  Wales,  facetious  convicts,  288. 

New  York,  gold  excitement,  336 ;  queen  of  cities, 
460. 

Nicknames,  State,  132,  598,  599. 

Nisbet,  James,  death  of,  419. 

North  Park,  Col.,  309 ;  wild  animals,  573. 

0. 

OHIO  Eiver,  wine-growing,  18 ;  Kandolph's  de 
scription,  19. 

Old  men,  new  use  for,  209. 

Olympia,  W.  T.,  412 ;  size,  413 ;  hotels,  414. 

Omaha,  Neb.,  562;  immense  area,  563;  fairest 
town  site  on  Missouri,  563 ;  a  bird's  eye 
view,  563  ;  future  importance,  564 ;  effect  of 
Pacific  Railroad,  564;  population,  603. 

Oregon,  early  currency,  363 ;  rich  valleys,  396 , 
an  eccentric  settler,  398;  Eastern  papers; 
398;  natural  productions,  399;  buttermilk, 
405 ;  pioneers,  407 ;  a  supreme  court,  407 ; 
provisional  government,  408;  early  coin, 
408;  resources,  409;  gold-mines,  409;  pro 
ductions,  410 ;  cider,  410 ;  fruits,  newspapers, 
ladies,  411 ;  webfoot,  411 ;  grand  woods,  412; 
rainy  weather,  512;  a  stage  robbery,  512; 
railroads,  579. 

Oregon  City,  399. 

Osawkee,  Kan.,  sale  of  lands,  70;  pro-slavery 
incident,  73 ;  Indians,  73. 

Osawattomie,  Kan.,  peace  meeting,  123. 

Otis,  Geo.  K.,  329. 

Ovens,  Scotch,  213. 

Owhyhee,  Idaho,  mining  district,  501 ;  no  gulch 
mines,  505 ;  visit  to'some  rich  mines,  507-9 ; 
a  little  dispute,  510;  mail  coaches,  510; 
prospects,  579 ;  farming,  579. 

P. 

PACIFIC  Ocean  and  coast,  pony  express  to,  325 ; 
murmurs  of  ocean,  386 ;  an  ocean  steamer, 
387;  warmer  than  Atlantic  Slope,  393; 
school  for  officers,  397  ;  chief  pastime,  400 ; 
use  of  iron,  410;  first  newspaper,  510; 
ocean  still  calm,  528 ;  ocean  steamers,  528- 
529 ;  albatrosses  and  gulls,  porpoises  and 
whales,  530 ;  Christmas  day  in  tropics,  531 ; 
no  Mexican  light-house,  531 ;  smooth  as  a 
mirror,  535 ;  a  tropical  night,  535 ;  southern 
constellations,  535;  earth's  rotundity,  535  ; 
close  of  journeyings,  536;  a  magnificent  do 
main,  536;  peculiar  humor,  580;  a  floury 
squaw,  581  ;  Chinamen,  594;  civilization 
pushing  eastward,  600. 

Pacific  Railroad,  a  prophecy,  831 ;  a  Northern, 
405;  value  of,  460 ;  Central  and  Union,  461 ; 


618 


ALPHABETICAL     INDEX. 


land  grants  and  endowments,  461 ;  track  E. 
of  Sacramento,  462 ;  Chinese  and  Irish  la 
borers,  462 ;  crossing  the  Sierras,  464 ;  snow- 
sheds,  464;  Humboldt  Pass,  510;  Ornaha, 
565 ;  journey  among  the  buffaloes,  566 ;  sleep 
ers,  566;  timber  and  iron,  567 ;  U.  P.  R.  R. 
contractor,  567 ;  branch  to  Denver,  567 ; 
Kansas  Forks,  567 ;  width,  568 ;  table  of  dis 
tances,  569 ;  Sherman's  Pass.  573  ;  uninter 
esting  spots,  575;  land  endowments,  592;  a 
welcome,  593;  destroying  old  landmarks,  594; 
first  suggestions  aud  propositions,  599 ;  first 
bill,  599;  surveys,  599;  handsome  reports, 
600:  roads  authorized,  600;  how  accom 
plished,  600 ;  need  of  it,  601 ;  labors  of  Ju- 
dah,  601;  early  history,  601-602;  public 
opinion  not  ripe,  602 ;  a  military  necessity, 
602  ;  union  begins,  602 ;  difficulties  and 
rapid  progress,  602;  rivalry.  602;  terminal 
station,  603;  Bitter  Creek,  604;  easy  line  of 
union,  604;  struggles  of  Central,  604;  prog 
ress  of  ditto,  605 ;  crossing  the  Sierras,  605 ; 
cost  of  entire  line,  606;  early  results,  606; 
foreign  competition,  606 ;  proposed  North 
ern  and  Southern  roads,  607;  effects  on 
western  communities,  608  ;  palace  cars,  608 ; 
list  of  stations  from  Omaha  to  Sacramento, 
608-610;  railway  distances  from  New  York 
to  San  Francisco,  608-610;  commemoration 
of  early  pioneers,  610;  sanguine  anticipa 
tions,  610  ;  future  brakeman,  611. 

Pack-Mule  Canyon,  587. 

Pah  Ranagat,  472 ;  farming  prospects,  472. 

Palmer,  Gen.  W.  I.,  585. 

Panama,  532,  534;  new  city,  536;  population, 
537 ;  women,  537 ;  scanty  costumes,  537 ; 
paradise  for  smokers,  538 ;  hats,  buildings, 
and  heat,  538 ;  a  local  Tupper,  539 ;  convent. 
539  ;  railroad-construction  dividends,  539- 
541 ;  vegetation,  541 ;  animal  life,  541 ;  fever, 
544. 

Paola,  Kan.,  557. 

Pawnee  Loup  Indians,  569. 

Pecos  River,  Texas,  238. 

Pen  d'Oreille  Lake,  Idaho,  483. 

Peralta,  supper  at,  248. 

Petaluma,  Cal.,  518. 

Phantom  Hill,  Texas,  228. 

Phillips,  Col.  W.  A.,  correspondent  and  scout, 
47,  591. 

Phoenix,  John,  200,  581. 

Piano,  a  long  ride,  343. 

Pike's  Peak",  best  view  of.  310 ;  journey  there, 
813;  camp  life  on,  316;  contrast  of  vegeta 
tion,  319  ;  mountain  sheep,  819  ;  crater,  820 ; 
height.  820 ;  for  whom  named,  320 ;  area  of 
summit,  321 ;  view  from,  821 ;  descent,  323  ; 
effect  of  journey,  824. 

Pike's  Peak  Gold  Region,  first  gold  prospec 
tors,  136 ;  rich  deposits,  136 ;  1859  stampede, 
157;  incidents  of  the  route,  158;  starting 
for,  159;  lawyer  and  actress  as  host  and 
hostess,  171 ;  an  Indiana  runaway,  171 ;  Peak 
in  the  distance.  176;  Gregory  diggings,  179; 
description  of  do.,  181;  view  from  moun 
tains,  181;  report  of  diggings,  182;  delights 
of  mule  riding,  184 ;  mountain  canyon  and 
fire,  196 ;  Gregory  gulch,  197 ;  rapid  church 
building,  198;  bird  s-eye  view  of  city,  198; 
a  miner's  Sunday,  198 ;  fever  and  death,  199 ; 
prices  of  food,  199  ;  fools  sold,  200;  women 
disguised,  200;  my  conclusions,  201;  a  con 
trast,  201;  disgusted  immigrants,  249;  na 
tural  panorama,  302. 

Pilot  Knob,  Mo.,  204. 

Plain,  Great  Staked,  why  called,  282;  gypsum 
deposits,  282. 


Placerville,  Cal.,  885;  gold  discoveries,  885;  cli 
mate  and  fruits,  888;  hydraulic  mining,  890; 
turnpike,  600. 

Platte  River,  crossing  the.  179  ;  explanation  of 
name,  201 ;  valley  cultivatable,  201 ;  quick 
sands,  201 ;  mosquitoes,  202  ;  valley  suited 
for  railroad,  203;  mining,  278;  shining,  294, 
808;  a  tornado,  328;  broad,  but  shallow 
stream,  562 ;  valley  favorable  railroad  route, 
567;  Indian  hunting-grounds,  569. 

Politician,  story  of  a  frontier,  597. 

Pomeroy,  General  S.  C.,  origin  of  title,  57. 

Population  dense  between  30°  and  50°  N.  L.,  61. 

Pork,  advantages  of,  185. 

Portland,  Oregon,  climate,  393 ;  stage  from  Oro- 
ville,  393 ;  metropolis,  399 ;  trade  and  popu 
lation,  400;  iron  deposits,  410  ;  roses  in  De 
cember,  515 ;  a  winter  voyage,  515. 

Port  Neuf  Canyon,  Montana,  a  stage  robbed, 
493  ;  creek,  494. 

Pottawatomies,  reservation,  96;  prayer  of 
medicine  man,  96;  graves,  96;  St.  Mary's 
mission,  160. 

Posthoff,  Mr.,  271. 

Prairie,  description  of,  83;  immigrants  travel 
ing  across.  34;  fires,  143;  prairie-dog  towns, 
170;  habits  of  do.,  228;  pleasures  of  travel 
ing,  294;  Great  Camas,  496;  Grand  Round, 
512. 

Pratt,  Rev.  John  G.,  Baptist  missionary,  33; 
labors  among  the  Delawares,  93. 

Pre-emption,  how  companies  obtain  land,  30; 
a  habitable  dwelling,  138;  land  warrants, 
139  ;  how  the  law  is  evaded,  140-1. 

Preston,  Texas,  224. 

Price,  Gen.  Sterling,  258. 

Prisons,  value  of,  81. 

Pueblo  Indians,  264,  265,  266. 

Puget  Sound,  413;  extent  and  harbors,  418; 
lumber  trade,  415 ;  fish  and  coa!  interests, 
415. 

"  Pukes,"  132. 


QITAELES,  murderer  of  Stephens,  lynched,  67. 

Quindaro.  Kan.,  by  whom  founded,  30;  de 
scription  of,  32;  a  Delaware  Indian,  83; 
temperance  meeting  at,  51 ;  a  German  bar 
keeper,  51  ;  exorcising  the  demon  whisky, 
52. 

Quincy,  111.,  549. 


RAILWAY,  longest  in  world,  17. 

Rainier,  Mt.,  monarch  of  mountains,  415. 

Rattlesnakes,  137 ;  habits,  231. 

Raven,  Little,  conversation  with,  190;  death  of, 
192;  devotions,  193  ;  a  leading  chief,  803. 

Rebellion,  vast  extent  of,  278. 

Red  Bluffs,  Cal.,  395. 

Red  River  of  Texas,  great  raft  of,  224. 

Republican,  not  a  black,  145. 

Republican  River,  journey  along,  161 ;  under 
ground  course,  175. 

Riley,  Fort,  161. 

Rio  Grande,  236,  240. 

Rivers,  subterranean,  175. 

Robinson,  Charles,  founds  Quindaro,  30 ;  expe 
riences  in  California,  86 ;  first  governor  of 
Kansas,  38;  his  house  burned  down,  38; 
member  of  Topeka  convention,  44;  trial  at 
Lecompton,  81;  description  of  court,  82  ; 
acquittal,  82 ;  carries  Judge  Wright,  122. 

Robinson,  Dr.  J.  K.,  863. 

ilocky  Mountains,  waters  too  clear  to  drink,  19- 


ALPHABETICAL     INDEX. 


619 


summits,  177;  Garden  of  the  Gods,  276; 

coal  and  iron,  337  ;  striking  scenery,  409. 
Hose,  William  J.,  255. 
Boss,  John,  Cherokee  chief,  220. 
Kuby  City,  Idaho,  505. 
Russell,  William  H.,  160, 


SACRAMENTO,  Cal.,  squatter  disturbance,  86;  town 
and  river,  386 ;  early  vicissitudes,  386 ;  fine 
State-house,  443. 

Sage,  deserts  of,  271 ;  seeds  of  white  sage,  582. 

Salem,  Oregon,  399. 

Sam,  Ethiopian,  296. 

San  Francis«o,  Fourth  of  July  celebration,  386 ; 
sharp  winds,  387 ;  climate,  393 ;  iron  foun- 
deries,  410  ;  diet,  444 ;  importance  of  lunch 
eon,  444 ;  nickname,  445 ;  new  words  and 
phrases,  445;  a  brief  conversation,  445; 
droll  stories,  445 ;  temperature,  447 ;  mild 
ness,  447;  injurious  to  weak  lungs.  447; 
novelties,  448;  magnificent  harbor,'  449 ; 
earthquakes,  449 ;  great  business  center, 
449;  manufactures,  449;  prejudice  against 
Chinese,  450 ;  photography,  451 ;  odd  news 
paper,  457;  U.  S.  Branch  Mint,  459 ;  pleasant 
greetings,  517;  harbor,  527;  sea-lions,  527 : 
Pacific  Mail  Company,  527;  earthquake, 
579 ;  scenes  during  the  alarm,  580 ;  com 
manding  commercial  position,  580. 

Sangre  de  Christo,  N.  M.,  272. 

San  Luis  Park,  Col.,  573. 

Santa  Fe,  trail  to  Salt  Lake,  177;  founders  of 
250 ;  population,  251 ;  cathedral,  253 ;  sin 
gular  necklace,  253 ;  museum,  253. 

Scotchman,  a  hardy,  467. 

Sea-sickness,  545. 

Sequoyah,  or  George  Guest,  his  history  and  in 
genuity,  589;  invents  Cherokee  alphabet, 
590-591;  delegate  to  Washington,  591; 
death,  592 ;  pension  to  widow,  592. 

Shasta,  Mt.,  395. 

Shawnees,  95 ;  a  chief,  96. 

Sheboygm,  origin  of  name,  98. 

Shepperd's  Mountain,  204 ;  rich  iron  ore,  206. 

Sheridan,  General  Phil.,  defeats  Indians,  402; 
modest  ambition,  402. 

Sheriff,  an  outwitted,  401. 

Sherman,  Gen.  W.  T.,  397 ;  a  farmer,  552. 

Sherman,  Tex.,  225. 

Shibboleth,  a  western,  50 ;  Israelitish,  50. 

Shrieveport,  La.,  224. 

Sierra  Madre,  371. 

Sierra  Nevadas,  first  view,  871 ;  etymology,  871; 
projected  tunnel,  882;  view  from  summit, 
882;  their  grandeur,  409 ;  severity  of  win 
ters,  463 ;  crossing  summit,  463 ;  wild  quartz 
regions,  517;  pioneer  conquests,  517; 
crossed  by  locomotive,  601. 

Sioux,  symbol  for,  194;  lodges,  202. 

Slavery,  discussion  on.  28. 

Smith,  Captain  John,  272. 

Smith,  Joseph,  352. 

Smith,  Sydney,  on  hot  weather,  54 ;  damns  the 
North  Pole,  151. 

Snags  of  Missouri,  20. 

Snake  Kiver,  477 ;  Great  Fall,  496-499 ;  Pah- 
c.hu-laJc-a,  496 ;  desert  mirage,  496 ;  a  rope 
ferry,  499  ;  another  ferry,  504 ;  straw-colored 
valley,  514. 

Soap-plant,  231. 

Socorro,  N.  M.,  237. 

South  Park,  Col.,  276,  309. 

Springfield,  Mo.,  207;  negro  outrage  and  pun 
ishment,  208. 

Stanford,  Ex-Gov.  Leland,  461. 


Stewart,  William  M.,  miner  and  senator.  880. 
St.  George's  Keef,  wreck  of  Brother  Jonathan. 

417. 
St  Joseph,  Mo.,  curious  migration  of  real  es 

tate,  63  ;  extent,  144  ;  railroad,  154  ;  excite 

ment,  Lincoln's  election,  826;  rich  country, 

549  ;  population,  550. 
St.  Louis,  railway  to  Pilot  Knob,  204;  funerals 

wanted,  588. 
St.  Lucas,  Cape,  530. 
Strong,  old  Parson,  of  Hartford,  501. 
St.  Vrain,  Colonel,  255. 
Suckers,  132,  598. 
Sumner,  Kan.,  56,  549. 
S  utter,  John  A.,  385. 
Syracuse,  Mo.,  journey  from,  205. 

T. 

TABLE  MOUNTAIN,  Col.,  179,  802. 

Tahoe  Lake,  381,  465. 

Taos,  N.  M.,  250.  259,  260,  269. 

Tappan,  Lewis  N.,  278. 

1  Tarheels,'  598. 

Tarry  all,  308,  309. 

Tehuantepec,  gulf  of,  585. 

Telegraph,  Overland,  Indian  name  of,  366  ; 
builder  of,  381  ;  a  misdirected  dispatch,  518  ; 
perpetual  miracle,  518;  novel  way  of  obtain 
ing  news,  519;  individualities  of  operators, 
519-20;  incident  in  a  rebel  raid,  519;  a 
leveler,  597. 

Terry,  Judge,  shoots  Broderick,  225  ;  killed  in 
rebel  army,  225. 

Texas,  224;  etymology.  225  ;  settled  by  Azteca, 
225;  sure  way  to  distinction,  226;  traveling 
on  plains,  227  ;  air  exhilarating,  228  ;  west 
ern,  239  ;  Spanish  courts,  239. 

Thacher,  T.  D  wight,  editor,  48. 

Titus,  Colonel,  capture  of,  39  ;  release,  40. 

Toboira,  536. 

Topeka,  Kan.,  39  ;  signification  of  name,  40  ; 
Free-State  Convention.  43;  sketch  of  dele 
gates  at  do..  44:  railroad  from  Leavenworth, 
550;  size.  551  ;  liberty  pole,  551  ;  gaps  in  Old 
Guard,  551  ;  long-lived  politicians,  551;  large 
landholder,  552. 

Train,  Geo.  Francis,  sketch  of,  565. 

Travel,  hazardous  on  sea  and  rivers,  419  ;  how 
to  remedy,  419  ;  stuge-craziness,  475;  bene 
fits  of  trans-continental,  547. 

Tropic  steamer  impaled  on  snug,  21. 

U. 

UNITED  STATKS,  population  tubles  of  Western 
States  and  Territories,  592  ;  bullion  yield  for 
1868,  587;  a  mining  school,  587;  unsold 
public  lands,  592  ;  Homestead  Act,  593  ; 
early  explorers,  594. 

Utah,  grasshoppers,  332;  hot  and  sulphur  springs, 
846;  farming,  350;  no  free  schools,  355; 
etymology,  359  ;  extent,  859;  early  coinage, 
363;  hardships  of  first  pioneers,  364;  its 
,  364;  Indians,  495;  remoteness, 


prosperity 


Utes,  kll  W.  M.  Slaughter,  200  ;  explanation  of 
name,  200  ;  murderous,  269. 

V. 

VANCOUVER  ISLAND  and  Fort,  409. 

Victoria,  Vancouver  Island,  climate,  393;   riso 

and  growth,  416;  sentiments  of  people,  417; 

voyage  to  San  Francisco,  417. 
Vigilance  Committees,  488. 
Villard,  Henry,  182. 


620 


ALPHABETICAL     INDEX. 


Virginia  City,  Nev.,  871, 372, 373 ;  mining  anglers, 
466 ;  a  poor  resident,  466. 

Virginia  early  currency,  363. 

Virginia,  Montana,  distance  from  Salt  Lake  City, 
475;  migratory  miners,  478;  rich  gold  de 
posits,  478;  trade,  479;  remoteness,  479; 
hotel  and  theater,  479;  dancing,  480;  alti 
tude,  488 ;  cold  journey,  483 ;  stories  of 
travels,  484. 

W. 

WAGON,  Concord,  159 ;  emigrant,  166 ;  ox,  287 ; 
a  narrow,  341 ;  Californian  freight,  884. 

Walbridge,  Hiram,  594. 

Walker,  Robert  J.,  Gov.  of  Kan.,  his  inaugural, 
43;  speech  at  Garvey's  Hotel,  48;  flaming 
proclamation,  74;  ridiculed  for  attack  on 
Lawrence,  76 ;  mob  threaten  to  hang  him, 
86 ;  opposes  Lecompton  constitution,  87 ; 
dismissed  by  Buchanan,  87. 

Walker,  Samuel,  captures  Col.  Titus,  39 ;  stories 
of  early  troubles,  49. 

Walker,  Thaddeus  H.,  552. 

Walla  Walla,  Washington  Ter.,  514. 

Wallamet  Valley,  garden  of  Oregon,  398;  fame 
of,  407. 

War  Eagle  Mountain,  Idaho,  rich  silver  deposits, 
505 ;  estimated  value,  506 ;  yield  of  lodes, 
506 ;  bleak  summit,  508. 

Warehouse,  largest  in  LT.  S.,  403. 

Warsaw,  Mo.,  a  Southern  town,  207. 

Wascopin  Indians,  408. 

Washington  Territory,  Indians,  412 ;  population, 
413;  lumberman's  paradise,  415;  first  dis 
covery,  416;  growth,  579. 

Washoe,  873,  600. 

Watch  Company,  National,  574. 

Waukarusa,  legend  of,  37. 

Wells,  Fargo  &  Co.,  238,  455,  456,  512. 

Weston,  Mo.,  washed  away,  62. 

Wharfs,  primitive  river,  23. 

Whiplashes,  stone,  330. 


White  Pine,  Nev.,  new  silver  region,  582 ;  wild 
excitement,  582  ;  Treasure  Hill,  583 ;  Eber- 
hardt  lode,  583 ;  history  of  discovery,  588 ; 
Treasure  City,  Sherman.  Hamilton,  584; 
winter  residents,  584 ;  lumber  and  building 
lots,  584 ;  a  lawyer's  mistake,  585 ;  popula 
tion,  585. 

Whitman,  Walt,  593. 

Williamson,  Mrs.  Sarah  Carmichael,  470 ;  escape 
from  Salt  Lake  City,  472. 

Wines,  native,  their  future  use,  18. 

1  Wolverines,1 132,  598. 

Wolves,  166. 

Wright,  Thomas  M.,  394. 

Wyandotte,  Kan.,  29. 

Wyandottes,  reservation  of,  31 ;  old  home,  81; 
story  of  a  beautiful  maiden,  31 ;  quarrel 
with  Senecas;  81 

Wyoming,  when* founded,  572;  agricultural  and 
mineral  prospects,  572 ;  Bitter  Creek  region, 
603. 

Y. 

YANKEE,  lust  for  territory,  71 ;  employments  of 
migratory,  177 ;  settlers,  272 ;  galvanized, 


Yellowstone  River,  483. 

Yosemite  Valley,  409 ;  etymology  and  dis 
covery,  420 ;  description,  421-430 ;  national 
pleasure  grounds,  435. 

Younjr,  Brigham,  sermon  by,  348 ;  houses,  849, 
854 ;  personal  description,  352 ;  daughters, 
354;  children,  355;  an  indignant  wife,  355; 
theatrical  sagacity,  359  ;  end  of  his  power, 
365  ;  story  of,  575. 

Yreka,  Cal.,  396. 

Ysletta,  N.  M.,  237. 

Yuba  Dam,  Cal.,  a  story,  394. 

z. 

ZTTNIANS,  254 ;  old  faith,  585 ;  peculiarities,  586 ; 
albinos,  586. 


MAP  1869. 

~R£G/Off B£TW. 

SffljjgnEP 

RICHARDSON'S 


